112 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



what looks like a single flower is really a cluster of many 

 flowers. If the flowers are borne on pedicels which spring 

 from the same height on the axis, we have an umbel. The 

 Carrot family takes its name from the umbel or umbrella-like 

 arrangement of the flowers. Widely different families have 

 this floral arrangement — as the Pelargoniums and Erodiums 



Fig. 124. — Simple umbel of Nerine, 



of the family Geraniacece^ many of the Amaryllideae or 

 Belladonna family, Microloma and Asdepias. 



In these four types of flower arrangement, the spike, raceme, 

 capitulum, and umbel, the younger flowers continue to open 

 toward the top or centre, which in the umbel corresponds to 

 the top. 



When a telescope is closed or shortened, the smaller or 

 upper end becomes the centre. 



In Dia7ithtis and other members of the Carnation family, 



