102 INFLORESCENCE. 
CHAPTER XIII. 
INFLORESCENCE. 
285. INFLORESCENCE is a term denoting the arrangement of 
_ the flowers upon a stem or branch. 
286. In regard to position upon the stem, the inflorescence, 
like the leaf-bud, of which we have shown it to be a modifica- 
tion, is either terminal or azillary. 
a. It is, however, in some plants, particularly in the potatoe tribe (Solanacez), 
situated opposite to a leaf. This irregularity is accounted for, if we suppose, with 
Lindley, that the flower-stalk, originating in the axil of the leaf next below, ad- 
heres to the internode (172) in its lower part, and does not separate from it until 
it is opposite the succeeding leaf. 
287. The rEDUNCLE (flower-stalk) is that part of the stem on 
which the inflorescence is immediately supported. It bears no 
leaves, or, at most, only such as are reduced in size, and altered 
in form, called bracts (252). If the peduncle is wanting, the 
flower is said to be sesszle. 
288. The peduncle, like the stem of which it is a portion, may 
be either simple or branched. When it is simple it bears, of — 
course, a single flower, but when it is divided into branches it 
bears several flowers, and its final divisions, each bearing a sin- 
gle flower, are called PEDICELS. 
289. A scape is a flower-stalk which springs from a subter- 
ranean stem, in such plants as are called stemless (177). Ex. 
Sarracenia, Taraxacum, Hyacinthus. Like the peduncle, of 
which it is a modification, it is leafless, or with bracts only, and 
may be either simple or branched. 
290. The racuis (gez-¢, the spine) is the aats of the inflores- 
cence, or the main stem of a compound peduncle, along which 
the pedicels are arranged, as seen in the Plantago, currant, 
grape, and grasses. 
291. The inflorescence is said to be soltary when it consists 
of a single terminal flower, as in Erythronium, or when but a 
single axillary flower is developed at the same node, as in Petu- 
nia, Convolvulus. 
ak 
