116 



FLOWER - BRANCHES 



the flowers are borne on short stems and open from below 

 (that is, from the okler part of the shoot) upwards. The 



raceme may be terminal 

 to the main branch, as in 

 Fig. 172, or it may be 

 lateral to it, as in Fig. 

 173. Racemes often bear 

 the flowers on one side 

 of the stem, or in a sin- 

 gle row. 



238. When a corym- 

 bose flower -cluster is long 

 id dense and the flowers 

 e sessile or nearly so, it is 

 lied a spike (Figs. 174, 

 o). Common examples of 

 pikes are plantain, migno- 

 lette, mullein. 



239. A very short and 

 dense spike is a head. Clover 

 (Fig. 176) is a good exam- 

 ple. The sunflower and re- 

 lated plants bear many small 

 . This special kind of head 



ITJ. 

 le of Chinese Wistaria. 



has been calk 



flowers in a very dense head, 

 of the sunflower, thistle, and 

 an antJiodiuni, but 

 this word is little 

 used. Note that 

 in the sunflower 

 (Fig. 177) the out- 

 side o r exterior 

 flowers open first. 

 Another special 

 form of spike is the catkin, which usually has scaly bracts 

 and the whole cluster is deciduous after flowering or fruit- 



s (in fruit) of barberry. 



