442 PART IV. CLASSIFICATION. 



tion of the ramification in the higher orders, as, for instance, when the 

 secondary members of a cyme are not cymes, but dichasia ; these are 

 dichasial cymes ; they occur in many Euphorbias : again, when dichasia 

 terminate in scorpioid or helicoid cymes. On the other hand it sometimes 

 occurs that helicoid cymes are combined to form scorpioid cymes, as in 

 Geranium. 



C. Compound racemose and cymose inflorescences. It may occur that a 

 compound inflorescence changes in type in the different ordei-s of 

 ramification. Thus the branches of the first order may exhibit a race- 

 mose arrangement, and those of the second a cymose arrangement, as 

 in the dichasial racemes of many Euphorbias (e.g. E.Esula, amygdaloides], 

 in the scorpioid racemes of the Horse-Chestnut, and in the helicoid 

 capitula of many species of Allium. On the other hand the branches 

 of the first order may have a cymose, and those of the second a race- 

 mose arrangement ; for instance, the helicoid cymes of capitula in 

 Cichorium. 



Finally, there are certain terms used in describing inflorescences which 

 refer only to the general external appearance rather than to the mode of 

 formation of the inflorescence : thus, the panicle is a pyramidal inflorescence 

 generally of the racemose type, at least in its first ramification : the 

 corymb is a racemose inflorescence of which all the ultimate ramifications 

 lie in one plane and bear flowers, e.g. the Elder, many Cruciferse : the 

 amentum (catkin) is a simple or compound spicate inflorescence, usually 

 pendulous and elongated, bearing inconspicuous unisexual flowers, 

 which falls off entire from the plant when the flowering is over. Of 

 cymose inflorescences there is the fascicle, consisting of a number of 

 flowers on pedicels of equal length (Sweet William); the glomerule 

 (Nettle and Box) or verticillaster (many Labiatse), consisting of a few 

 sessile or shortly pedicillate flowers ; and the anthela, which is a compound 

 inflorescence, in which the branches of the first order are gradually 

 shorter from below upwards (or rather from without inwards), as in 

 Juncaceae. 



To a floral axis arising from the ground, with no leaves, or with only a 

 few bracts, bearing a single flower or a more or less complex inflorescence, 

 the term scape is applied. 



The Bracts (p. 43) are leaves borne on the inflorescence, in the 

 axils of which the flowers are developed : there may be a single 

 large bract, termed a spathc, enclosing the whole inflorescence, as 

 in Palms and in the Arum Lily (Richardia cKtliiopica) where 

 the bract is white ; or the bracts may be brightly coloured (petaloid), 

 as in Poinsettia and other Euphorbiacese where they are red, and 

 in Leycesteria formosa, Melampyrum, etc. ; or the bracts may be 

 scaly, forming an involucre round the inflorescence as in the Com- 

 positae : the glumes of the Grasses are scaly bracts. The bracts are 

 frequently not very unlike the foliage-leaves, differing from them 

 mainly in form and size. 



