PEOLIFICATION OF THE INFLOEESCENCE. 



105 



SO great as in the preceding cases. The instances just 

 cited all occur in plants having an indefinite form of 



Fig. 52. Inflorescence of Polyanthus, bearing a tuft of leaves at the 

 top of the scape intermixed with the flowers. 



inflorescence ; but the production of a tuft of leaves 

 or of a leafy shoot above or beyond the inflorescence is 

 not confined to plants with this habit of growth, for 

 Jacquin figures and describes an instance of this nature 

 in the cymose flower-stems of a Sempervivum. " Hi 

 racemi,*' says he, " ultra flores producuntur in ramose 

 foliosos duo bifidos qui tandem trium undarum longi- 

 tudinem adepti fueimnt.^'^ 



Median floral prolification of the inflorescence, wherein 

 a new inflorescence projects beyond the primary 

 one, is not uncommon in plants having their flowers 

 arranged in close heads or umbels, as in the common 



' ' Miscel. Austviac. Bot.,' vol. i, Vindob, 1778, p. 133. 



