The Science of Plant Growing 



57 



flower stalks do not bear flowers, but give rise to secondary umbels of 

 stalked flowers. The capitulum (fig. 44) is seen in the Daisy, Dandelion, 

 and Marguerite. It consists of an aggregation of small flowers or florets, 

 in a head, surrounded by numerous bracts. The outer florets are the oldest 

 and first to open, as in other indefinite inflorescences. The panicle is a 

 branching inflorescence, the branches of which may be in racemes, as in the 

 Cabbage, or in spikes, as in Beet. 



Sympodial or definite inflorescences are fairly numerous, but all are 

 characterized by the axis terminating in a flower which is the oldest and 

 the first to open, but the stalk soon ceases to lengthen, and all the other 

 flowers are produced on branches which spring from a point lower down 



and soon overtop the primary axis. The various 

 forms of definite inflorescence are termed cymes. 

 The dichasial cyme is seen in the Stitchworts 

 (Stellaria), Lych- 

 nis, and others, in 

 which both lateral 

 branches are de- 

 veloped equally, 

 each terminating in 

 a flower (fig. 45). 

 The scorpioid 



cyme is seen in 

 Forget-me-not and 

 Heliotrope. The 

 corymbose cyme is 

 that in which the 

 branches all ter- 

 minate on the same 



level, and the Sweet William comes near this type. The panicled cyme 

 may be seen in the herbaceous Spiraeas. 



Flower Buds and Pruning". The art of pruning cannot be properly 

 accomplished without a close study of the habit and mode of growth of 

 each species of plant whose cultivation is undertaken. The object of 

 pruning in each case should be strictly kept in view, and the time and 

 method of operating guided accordingly. Apples, Pears, Plums, Nuts, and 

 Cherries form their flower buds in the late summer and autumn previous 

 to their expansion in spring. In most cases they are produced on short, 

 lateral spurs, and may readily be distinguished soon after the fall of the 

 leaf by their plump and rounded form. Those of the Morello Cherry, 

 Peach, Nectarine, and Black Currant are scattered along the shoots of the 

 previous year, and these must be retained full length or only the weak tips 

 removed. Red and White Currants flower chiefly on buds thickly clustered 

 on the old wood, so that the young shoots should be cut away almost 

 to the base, except the leaders of young bushes, which may be left 4 to 

 6 in. long. The Vine flowers on the wood of the current year, so that the 



Fig. 44. Inflorescence (Capitulum) 

 of Dandelion 



Fig. 45. Cymose Inflorescence Definite, 

 the central flower opening first 



