154 



rNTLORESCENCE OR ANTHOTAXIS. 



produced, / represents the bract or floral leaf. The rachis, or primary 

 axis of the flower, is of; this produces small leaflets, b, which bear 



smaller flower-leaves or bractlets, from 

 which peduncles or secondary axes 

 spring, bearing each single flowers. 

 The whole inflorescence is the product 

 of one branch, the lower flowers having 

 expanded first, and bearing fruit, while 

 the upper are in bud, and the middle 

 are in full bloom. In fig. 232, the same 

 232 kind of inflorescence is shown on a 



shortened axis, the outer flowers expanding first, and those in the 

 centre last. 



332. The second is Determinate, Definite, or T'ermznaZ inflorescence, in 

 which the axis is either elongated and ends in a solitary flower, which 

 thus terminates the axis, and if other flowers are produced, they are 



secondary, and farther from the centre ; 

 or the axis is shortened, and produces 

 at once a number of flower-buds, but of 

 these the central flower expands first, 

 being in fact the termination of the 

 axis, while the other flowers are develop- 

 ed in succession further from the centre. 

 The expansion of the flowers is in this 

 case centrifugal, that is, from apex to 

 base, or from centre to circumference. 

 When this inflorescence produces many 

 flowers, it is compound, and proceeds 

 from the development of the buds of 

 several branches. It is illustrated in 

 fig. 233, where a representation is given 

 of a plant of Ranunculus bulbosus; a' is 

 the primary axis swollen at the base in a 

 bulb-like manner, ft, and with roots pro- 

 ceeding from it. From the leaves which 

 are radical proceeds the axis ending in 

 a solitary terminal flower,/'. About 

 the middle of this axis there is a leaf 



Fig. 232. Head of flowers or glomerulus of Scabiosa atro-purpnrea. The inflorescence is sim- 

 ple and indeterminate, and the expansion of the flowers centripetal, those at the circumference 

 opening first 



Fig. 233. Plant of Ranunculus bulbosus, showing determinate compound inflorescence, a*, 

 Primary fioral axis dilated at its base, so as to form a sort of bulb, 6, whence the roots and radical 

 leaves proceed, f, Solitary flower, terminating the primary axis. About the middle of the axis 

 a leaf is developed which gives origin to a secondary axis, a'', ending in a solitary flower, _/", 

 which is not so advanced as/. On the secondary axis a leaf is formed, from the axil of which a 

 tertiary axis, a"', proceeds, ending in a flower, /", which is still in bud. On this axis another 

 floral leaf and bud is in the progress of formation. 



