115, 116.] INFLORESCENCE. 135 



stemless, or acaulescent ; as the Primrose, Tulip, Blood- 

 root. Like the peduncle, it is leafless or with bracts 

 only, and may be either simple or branched. The 

 flower-stalk, whether peduncle, scape, or pedicel, always 

 terminates in the torus ( 57). 



432 



Bracts (b, 6, &). 430, Cornus Canadensis, with an involucre of four colored bracts. 431, Hepatica triloba, 

 with an involucre of three green bracts. 432, Calla palustris, with a colored spathe of one bract. 



345. Bracts. The branches of the inflorescence 

 arise from the axils of reduced leaves, called bracts. 

 Those leaves, still smaller, growing upon the pedicels, 

 are called bractlets. Bracts are usually simple in out- 

 line and smaller than the leaf, often gradually dimin- 

 ishing to mere points, as in Aster, or even totally sup- 

 pressed, as in the Cruciferse. Often they are colored, 

 sometimes brilliantly, as in Painted-cup. Sometimes 

 they are scale-like, and again they are evanescent 

 membranes. 



346. The Spathe is a large bract formed in some of 

 the Monocotyledons, enveloping the inflorescence, and 

 often colored, as in Arum, Calla ; or membranous, as 

 in Onion and Daffodil. 



347. Bracts also constitute an Involucre when they 

 are collected into a whorl or spiral group. In the 



t, 



