MIXED CLUSTERS — INFLORESCENCE 



119 



180. Compound umbel of 

 wild carrot. 



245. MIXED CLUSTERS.— 

 Often the cluster is mixed, being 

 determinate in one part and in- 

 determinate in another part of 

 the same cluster. This is the 

 case in Fig. 184, The main clus- 

 ter is indeterminate, but the 

 branches are determinate. The 

 cluster has the appearance of a 



panicle, and is usually so called, 

 but it is really a thyrse. Lilac is 

 a familiar example of a thyrse. In 

 some cases, the main cluster is de- 

 terminate and the branches are in- 

 determinate, as in hydrangea and 

 elder. Such clusters also are mixed 

 clusters. 



246 . INFLORESCENCE. —The mode 

 or method of flower arrangement is 

 known as the inflorescence. That 

 is, the inflorescence is cymose, 

 corymbose, paniculate, spicate, soli- 

 tary. By custom, however, the 

 word inflorescence has come to be 

 used for the flower-cluster itself in 

 works on descriptive botany. Thus 

 a cyme or a 

 panicle may 

 be called an 

 inflorescence. It will be seen that 

 even solitaiy flowers follow either 

 indeterminate or determinate meth- 

 ods of branching. 



247. THE FLOWER-STEM.— The 

 stem of a solitary flower is known as compa^e'Fig.'w"' 



181. Determinate or cymose 

 arrangement. — Wild geranium, 



