THE INFLORESCENCE. 215 



CHAPTER VIII. 



OF THE INFLORESCENCE. 



377. Inflorescence is the term used to designate the arrangement 

 of flowers upon the stem or branch. The flower, like the branch, 

 is evolved from a bud. Flower-buds and leaf-buds are often so 

 similar in appearance, that it is difficult to distinguish one from the 

 other before their expansion. The most conspicuous parts of the 

 flower are so obviously analogous to the leaves of a branch, that 

 they are called in common language the leaves of the flower. 

 Such a flower as the double Camellia appears as if composed of a 

 rosette of white or colored leaves, resembling, except in their color 

 and greater delicacy, the clusters of leaves which crown the offsets 

 of such plants as the Houseleek (Fig. 174), &c. We may therefore 

 naturally consider a flower-bud as analogous to a leaf-bud; and 

 a flower, consequently, as analogous to a short leafy branch. 



378. This analogy is confirmed by the position which flowers 

 occupy. Whatever views may be entertained respecting the na- 

 ture of flowers, it is certain that they appear at the same situations 

 as ordinary buds, and at no other. They have the same relation 

 to the stem or flower-stalk which bears them, that leaf-buds have 

 to the stem or branch from which they arise ; that is, they occupy 

 the extremity of the stem or branch, and the axil of the leaves 

 (144, 148). Consequently, the arrangement of the buds governs 

 the whole arrangement of the blossoms, as well as that of the 

 branches. The flower-stalk is merely the last term of ramifica- 

 tion. The almost endless variety of modes in which flowers are 

 clustered upon the stem, many of them exhibiting the most grace- 

 ful of natural forms, all implicitly follow the general law which 

 has controlled the whole development of the vegetable from the 

 beginning. We have, throughout, merely buds terminating the 

 stem and branches, and buds from the axil of the leaves. 



379. The simplest kind of inflorescence is, of course, that of a 

 solitary flower, a single flower-stalk bearing a single flower ; as 

 in Fig. 249 and Fig. 229. The naked stalk which supports the 

 flower is termed the PEDUNCLE. If the flower is not raised on a 

 proper stalk, it is said to be sessile. 



