160 ANTHOTAXY, OR INFLORESCENCE. 



289. The Relations of Bract, Bractlet, and Flower should hero 

 be noticed, although the subject in part belongs rather to the 

 section on Floral Symmetry. (315.) 



290. Anterior and Posterior, otherwise called Inferior and 

 Superior, and therefore Lower and Upper, 1 are primary relations 

 of position of an axillary flower with respect to subtending bract 

 and the axis to which the bract pertains. The flower is placed 

 between the two. The portion of the flower which faces the 

 subtending bract is the anterior, likewise called inferior or lower. 



The opposite portion which faces the axis of 

 inflorescence is the posterior, or superior, or 

 upper. The right and left sides are lateral. 

 (Fig. 304, 306.) These relations do not 

 ^ appear in a solitary flower terminating a 

 ) simple stem ; but when such an axis produces 

 axillary branches with a terminal flower, the 

 relation of this flower to the preceding axis 

 and its leaf is manifest, just as in indetermi- 

 nate inflorescence. 



291. Median and Transverse. The position of parts which lie 

 in antero-posterior line, or between bract and axis, is median. 

 Thus, in Fig. 304 and 305, the parts are all in the median plane : 

 in Fig. 306, the bractlets, b 1 , b', are lateral or collateral, or (being 

 in the opposite plane) transverse. 



292. Position of Bractlets. The rule has already been laid 

 down (285) that the first leaf of an alternate-leaved secondary 

 axis is in Monoctyledons usually median and posterior, that is, 

 farthest away from the subtending leaf (as in Fig. 304, 305) ; 

 in Dicotyledons, lateral or transverse. When these secondary 

 axes are one-flowered peduncles or pedicels, the leaf or leaves 

 (if any) the}- bear are bractlets.' 2 ' Commonly there is only this 



1 Not (with propriety, although the terms have been so used) exterior or 

 outer for the anterior, and interior or inner for the posterior position. These 

 terms should be reserved for the relative position on the axis of successive 

 circles or parts of circles, spirals, &c. Covering or overlapping parts are 

 exterior or outer in respect to those overlapped. 



2 Latin Bracteolce: not that they are small bracts, but bracts "of an ulti- 

 mate axis. In axillary inflorescence, the distinction between bractlet and 

 bract is obvious: in case of a solitary terminal flower, there is no ground of 

 difference : in terminal or cymose inflorescence, the difference is arbitrary ; 

 but we may restrict the term bractlet to the last bract or pair. 



German botanists mostly distinguish between bracts, as a leaf subtending 

 a flower or cluster, and bractlets, by terming the former a Deckblatt, and the 



FIG. 306. Diagram (cross section) of papilionaceous flower and its relation to axis 

 (a), bract (b), and bractlets (/, &') 



