200 KINDS OF INFLORESCENCE. 
some distance, and then becomes free ; while Wang Solan- 
acez, as in the Woody Nightshade (fig. 411), the peduncle also 
becomes extra-axillary by forming adhesions to the stem or 
branch in various ways. 
Duration.—With respect to their duration the peduncle and 
pedicel vary. Thus they are said to be caducous, when they 
fall off soon after the opening of the flower, as in the staminate 
or male flowers of a catkin ; they are deciduous, when they fall 
off after the fruit has ripened, as in the Cherry; they are 
persistent, if they remain after the ripening of the fruit and 
dispersion of the seed, as in the Dandelion ; and they are said 
to be excrescent, if they enlarge or continue to grow during the 
ripening of the fruit, as in the Cashew-nut. 
3. KINDS OF INFLORESCENCE. 
The term inflorescence or anthotaxis is used in a general sense 
to indicate the arrangement of the flowers upon the floral axis 
or peduncle, in the same way as the term phyllotaxis is used in a 
genera! sense to indicate the various modes in which the leaves 
are arranged on the stem or branches, and that of vernation for the 
arrangement of the component rudimentary leaves of leaf-buds. 
As flowers are variously arranged upon the floral axis, we havea 
number of different kinds of inflorescence, and to each mode of 
arrangement a particular name is applied. These modifications 
are always the same for the same species of plant, and frequently 
for entire genera, and even natural orders, and hence their dis- 
crimination is of much practical importance. All the regular 
kinds may be arranged in two divisions : and if the general cha- 
racters upon which they depend are understood, their several 
modifications will be readily intelligible. These twoare usually 
called Indefinite or Indeterminate, and Definite or Determinate 
Inflorescence. The former is also sometimes termed Botryoid 
or Botryose ; and the latter Terminal or Cymose Inflorescence. 
In the former, the primary floral axis is terminated by a growing 
point, analogous to the terminal leaf-bud of a stem or branch ; 
hence such an axis has the power of either growing in an 
upward direction, in the same manner as the terminal leaf-bud 
of a stem or branch has the power of elongating, and thus 
adding to its length ; or of dilating more or less horizontally. 
There is consequently no necessary limit to the growth of such 
an axis, and hence the name of Indeterminate or Indefinite 
which is applied to it. Such an axis as it continues to grow 
upwards develops on its sides other flower-buds, from which 
flowers are produced, and these, like the buds of a stem or branch, 
are commonly situated in the axil of leaves which are here called 
bracts, as we have seen. All the flowers therefore of an Indefinite 
Inflorescence must be necessarily lateral or axillary, and hence 
this inflorescence is also termed axillary. The general characters 
