THE FLORAL STEM. 745 



together into capitula, this inlloresceuce being the commonest of all. Next to it 

 comes the cyme with its lumiurous nuxlificatioiis, and then the umbel, the raceme, 

 and the spike. Of all plants, perennial undcrshrubs exhibit the most extensive 

 inflorescences, in comparison with the size of the whole plant. Many of them only 

 send up au axis every year which bears a few large foliage-leaves at the base, is 

 beset with scale-like bracts further up, and terminates in numerous umbels, racemes, 

 or cymes, forming a single gigantic inflorescence. As an example of this form found 

 in the East, especially in the steppes of Persia and Turkestan, may be instanced 

 Eiiryangium SumbuL This umbelliferous plant, abundant near Pentschakend, 

 south of Samarkand in Southern Turkestan, develops at the beginning of the 

 vegetative period some five radical foliage-leaves divided into innumerable lobes, 

 and having a musky odour; these leaves only retain their fresh green for a few 

 weeks and then wither and become bleached, turning a pale violet colour com- 

 paratively eai-ly. As soon as these radical leaves have begun to change colour 

 a leafless, blue-tinted, asparagus-like, slim shoot, 4-5 cm. thick, rises above the 

 ground and branches repeatedly in its upper third into numerous umbels. A whole 

 series of oriental UmbellifersB behave like this strange Sumbul plant, especiallj'^ 

 those of the genus Ferula, as also the Scorodosma Asa foetida, yielding the 

 notorious asafoetida, and several Cruciferse. One of these cruciferous bushes, 

 Crambe cordifolia, develops within a few weeks an inflorescence with long branches, 

 projecting like spars, about 2 metres high and almost as much across. The Agave 

 Americana, known as the Century Plant (illustrated on p. 657), is also similar to 

 these plants. The stem, 5—7 metres high and 6—12 cm. thick, which rises above 

 the rosette of thick fleshy foliage - leaves with spinous margins, is covered only 

 with dry, scale-like leaves, without chlorophyll, and forms the rachis of an inflor- 

 escence which is one of the largest in the whole vegetable kingdom. 



In contrast to the undershrubs, whose rapidly -growing stems, terminated by 

 large inflorescences, remain herbaceous and wither and die down to the ground 

 without lignifying after the maturing of the fruit and seeds, woody plants, espe- 

 cially trees, produce as a rule only small inflorescences. It is true that their 

 number is correspondingly large. The perianth-leaves are frequently green, and 

 the inconspicuous inflorescences distributed between the foliage-leaves are then 

 entirely invisible at a little distance. Often, however, numerous small but brightly- 

 coloured inflorescences are crowded so close together as to be inseparable; in cases 

 where the flowers unfold before the green foliage, as, for example, in Almond and 

 Cherry trees, each tree from a distance resembles a gigantic bouquet of flowers. 



Only 1 few inflorescences are found in palms, but they are usually very large 

 and many-flowered. Generally speaking palm inflorescences are the largest of all. 

 Those of the Doum Palm (Hyphcene thebaica) and of several species of Phoenix 

 are more than a metre, those of Raffia Ruffii and of Plectocomia elonyata 2 metres 

 long, and the Talipot Palm {Corypha uvibraculifera), illustrated on p. 289, is 

 celebrated as possessing the largest inflorescence of all plants. This remarkable 

 dioecious palm grows comparatively slowly: its caudex often takes 30-40 years 



