ORGANS OF EEPEODUCTION. 189 



less horizontally, 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. 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 developes on its sides other flower-buds, from 

 which flowers are produced, and these, like those of a branch, 

 are situated in the axil of leaves called bracts, as we have before 

 seen. All the flowers therefore of an Indefinite Inflorescence 

 must be necessarily axillary, and hence such an inflorescence is 

 also termed axillary. The general characters of Indefinite, In- 

 determinate, or Axillary Inflorescence depend therefore upon the 

 indefinite growth of the primary axis, while the secondary, 

 tertiary, and other axes which are developed from it, are termi- 

 nated by flower-buds. In the Definite or Determinate Inflores- 

 cence on the contrary, the primary axis is terminated at an early 

 period by the production of a flower-bud ; such an axis has 

 therefore a limit at once put to its growth in an upward direction, 

 and hence the names of Definite, Determinate, or Terminal 

 applied to it. Each of these classes of inflorescence presents us 

 with several modifications, which we now proceed to describe. 



Indefinite, Indeterminate, or Axlllart Inflorescence. — 

 The simplest kind of inflorescence in this class is that pre- 

 sented by such plants as the Pimpernel {Anagallis arvensis) 

 (^^. 368), andMoney- Wort ^-^^ 38g 



[Lysi'niachia Nummularia), ^ ' 



in which solitary flowers, 

 b,b, are developed in the 

 axils of what are com- 

 monly regarded as the or- 

 dinary leaves of the plant, 

 a, a, although properly 

 leafy bracts, the primary 

 axis continuing to elongate 

 in an upward direction ^.^ ggg whorledl^^es or bracts and 

 and bearing other leaves flowers of Mare's Tail {Hippuris vul- 



and flowers. The flowers ^'''^^^• 



are then said to be solitary and axillary. When such flowers are 

 arranged in whorls round the stem, as in the common Mare's 

 Tail {Hippuris vulgaris), each flower being axillary to a leafy 

 bract, (fly. 386) they are said to be whorled. 



When a number of flowers instead of a single one are de- 

 veloped upon an elongated or depressed floral axis placed at the 

 extremity of a branch, or in the axil of a bract, a number of 

 kinds of inflorescence arise. All these depend upon the extent 

 to which the axis branches, the mode in which the branching 

 takes place, the comparative lengths of the flower-stalks, and 

 other subordinate circumstances. It will be convenient to de- 



