76 



FLOWERS. 



[section 8. 



This is the inflorescence of Caraway (Fig. 208), Parsnip, and almost all of 

 the great family of Umbelliferous (umbel-bearing) plants. 



215. The second- 

 ary or partial umbels 

 of a compound um- 

 bel are Umbellets. 

 When the umbellets 

 are subtended by an 

 involucre, this sec- 

 ondary involucre is 

 called an Involucel. 



216. A Compound raceme is a cluster of racemes 

 racemosely arranged, as in Smilacina racemosa. A 

 compound corymb is a corymb some branches of which 

 branch again in the same way, as in Mountain Ash. A 

 compound spike is a spicately disposed cluster of spikes. 



217. A Panicle, such as that of Oats and many 

 Grasses, is a compound flower-cluster of a more or less 

 open sort which branches with apparent irregularity, 

 neither into corymbs nor racemes. Tig. 209 repre- 

 sents the simplest panicle. It is, as it were, a raceme 

 of which some of the pedicels have branched so as to 

 bear a few flowers on pedicels of their own, while 

 others remain simple. A compound panicle is one that 

 branches in this way again and again. 



218. Determinate Inflorescence is that in which the flowers are from 

 terminal buds. The simplest case is that of a solitary terminal flower, as 



209 



in Fig. 210. This stops the growth of the stem ; for its terminal bud, be- 

 coming a blossom, can no more lengthen in the manner of a leaf-bud. Any 



Fig. 208. Compound Umbel of Caraway. 



Fig. 209. Diagram of a simple panicle. 



Fig. 210. Diagram of an opposite-leaved plant, with a single terminal flower. 

 211. Same, with a cyme of three flowers ; a, the first flower, of the main axis; b b, 

 those of branches. 212. Same, with flowers also of the third order, c c. 



