INDETERMINATE INFLORESCENCE. 



217 



particular case is often a matter of fancy. The subjoined account 

 of the principal kinds will at the same time bring to view the con- 

 nection between them. 



384. A Raceme is formed when the primary axis continues to 

 lengthen, and the flowers singly produced from the axil of each 

 bract are supported on pedicels of their own, as in Fig. 230, 235. 

 The flowers and fruit of the Currant, Barberry, and wild Black 

 Cherry (Fig. 236) furnish most familiar examples. The -lowest 

 flowers of a raceme, being evidently the oldest, are the first to ex- 

 pand, and the others follow in regular succession, from the base to 

 the summit. Indeed, the lower flowers often produce, or (as in 

 the Snowberry, Symphoricarpus racemosus) even ripen, their 

 fruit, before the summit has ceased to grow and develope new 

 flowers. 



385. A Corymb (Fig. 231, 239) is the same as a raceme, except 

 that the lower pedicels are elongated, so as to form a level-topped 

 or slightly convex bunch of flowers ; as in the Hawthorn, &c. 



386. An Umbel (Fig. 232) differs from a corymb only in having 

 all the pedicels arising from the same apparent point ; the general 

 peduncle, in this case, bearing several flowers without any percep- 

 tible elongation of the internodes of the axis of inflorescence. The 

 Primrose and the Milkweed afford familiar examples of the simple 

 umbel. 



387. A corymb being evidently the same as a raceme with a 

 short main axis, and an umbel the same as a corymb with a still 

 shorter axis, it is evident that the outer flowers of an umbel or 

 corymb correspond to the lowermest in the raceme, and that these 

 will first expand, the blossoming proceeding regularly from the 

 base to the apex, or (which is the same thing) from the circumfer- 



FIG. 230-232. Diagrams of a simple raceme, corymb, and umbel. 



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