BRACTS AND FLOWEJi-STAJLKS. 



143 



chaff-like bracts or bractlets on the axis (or receptacle) and 

 among the flowers of a dense inflorescence, such as a head of 

 Composite (275, Fig. 287, 288) ; and the name is also given 

 to an inner series of the 



GLUMES of Grasses. These are peculiar chaff} 7 bracts or bract- 

 lets which characterize the inflorescence of Grasses and Sedges. 



265. Peduncle is the general name of a flower-stalk, that is, 

 of an axis or stem, which instead of foliage, or at least ordi- 

 nary foliage, supports a 

 flower-cluster or a single 

 flower. In Fig. 276, 

 each peduncle (rising 

 from the axil of an ordi- 

 nary leaf, and therefore 

 answering to a branch) 

 bears a solitary flower. In Fig. 277, the peduncle bears a series 

 of flowers, or a flower-cluster. In this instance, each flower is 

 borne on a flower-stalk of its own, that is, upon a 



PEDICEL. This is the name given to distinguish 

 a partial flower-stalk, or, more strictly, the stalk 

 of each individual flower of an inflorescence. (Fig. 

 277-284.) In less simple flower-clusters, with 

 ramification of two, three, or more grades, general 

 peduncle, partial peduncles, and pedicels have to be 

 distinguished : the term pedicel is reserved for the 

 ultimate ramification. 



SCAPE is the name given to a peduncle rising 

 from the ground, as that of most Primulas, of 

 Dodecatheon, Hepatica, and the so-called acaules- 

 cent or stemless Violets. 



RHACHIS (backbone) is a name given to the axis a ^ 

 of inflorescence ; that is, the continuation of the 

 stem or peduncle through a somewhat elongated 

 flower-cluster, as in a spike of Birch or of Plan- 

 tain, Fig. 289, 290. When this axis is short, as in 

 a head (Fig. 285-288), it is usually called the 

 RECEPTACLE, a word also used for the axis or cauline- 277 



part of a flower. The context should show when receptacle of 

 inflorescence, and when receptacle of the flower itself, is meant. 

 Both belong: to axis or stem. 



FIG. 276. Moneywort, Lysitnachia nnmrmilnria, with axillary one-flowere<t 

 peduncles. 



FIG. 277. A Raceme, with a general peduncle f j>), pedicels (p'), bracts (b). and 

 bractlete (V). 



