SPADIX.—LOCUSTA.—CONE. 203 
inflorescence are called amentaceous or amentiferous. Our trees 
afford numerous examples, as the Oak, Willow, Birch, and 
Poplar. 
ce. The Spadix is a spike with a succulent peduncle, in 
which the individual flowers have no special bracts, but the 
’ whole inflorescence enclosed in that variety of bract which is 
called a spathe. This is well seen in the Cuckoo-pint (fig. 
403). Sometimes the spadix branches, as in Palms (fig. 417), 
in which case it is called compownd or branching. The term 
spadix is also usually applied to a succulent spike, whether 
enveloped in a spathe or not, as in the Sweet Flag (Acorus 
Calamus). 
Fic. 415. Fic. 416. 
itis 
Fig. 415, Staminate amentum or catkin of a species 
of Willow (Saliz)——Fig. 416. Pistillate or car- 
pellary amentum of a species of Willow, with 
bracts between the carpels. 
d. The Locusta or Spikelet.—This name is given to the 
partial inflorescence of Grasses (fig. 405), and of plants of the 
Sedge Order. In grasses it is a spike with a few flowers, and 
these destitute of a true calyx and corolla, their place being 
occupied by palex or pales (fig. 405, ps, pi), and the whole in- 
florescence surrounded at the base by one or two empty bracts 
(glumes), gl, gl. These spikelets may be either arranged sessile on 
the elongated peduncle or rachis (fig. 418), asin Wheat, or they 
may be placed on a more or less branched axis, as in the Oat (jig. 
419). Thespikelets of plants of the Sedge Order present certain 
peculiarities, but they are essentially of the same nature as those 
of Grasses, 
e. The Cone.—This is a kind of spike, found in plants of the 
order Conifer, as the Larch, Pine, and Fir (figs. 295 and 420). 
It is composed of a collection of imbricated scales or open carpels 
arising from the axils of bracts, and bearing two or more naked 
ovules at their base (fig. 17, ov). 
