490 



BOTANY 



PART II 



tlie middle line of the bract. The bracteoles, and the branches produced from 

 their axillary buds, may lie in this median plane, when they are said to have a 

 MEDIAN POSITION, or more commonly they stand right and left of it, and their 

 position is described as tkansverse (Fig. 442). 



According to the relative development of the main and lateral axes in an 

 inflorescence a distinction is made between racemose inflorescences, in wdiich the 

 main axes are strongly developed and exceed their lateral shoots, and cymose 

 inflorescences in which the lateral axes are more strongly developed and overtop 

 the main axis. The former may be also termed monopodial in contrast to the 



Fio. 442. — Flower of Campanula mcdhira with bract ('0 and bracteoles (r). 



SYMPODi.\L or cymose type (cf. p. 17). The more frequent kinds of inflorescence 

 are enumerated below. 



I. Bacemose Inflorescences. 



(a) Lateral axes unbranched. 



1. Raceme ; stalked flowers borne on an elongated main axis (Figs. 443 A, 444). 



2. Spike ; flowers sessile on an elongated main axis (Figs. 443 11, 445). A 

 spike in which the axis is thickened and succulent is termed a spadix ; a 

 spike which, after flowering or after the fruits have ripened, falls olf as a 

 whole, is a catkin (Fig. 446). 



3. Umbel ; flowers stalked, on a shortened main axis (Figs. 443 C, 447). 



4. Capitulum or head ; flowers sessile, on a shortened main axis (Fig. 443 D). 

 (h) lateral axes Itranched. 



5. Panicle ; a main axis bearing racemes laterally (Figs. 443 U, 448). 



6. Compound umbel ; an umbel bearing small umbels in place of the single 

 flowers (Fig. 443 F). 



