OF INFLORESCENCE. 31 



The first is also a case of union, the inverse of the 

 preceding. The peduncle which arises from the axil 

 unites sometimes with the petiole, and then the flower 

 or flowers which it bears seem to arise from the petiole 

 at the point where the union ceases ; this is very visible 

 in Chailletia, where the flowers are upon the same 

 branches, sometimes evidently axillary or petiolary, 

 according as the peduncle is free or adherent to the 

 petiole ; it is also remarked more or less constantly in 

 several species of Hibiscus. The union, on the con- 

 trary, is constant in Tapura, for example, and several 

 others. The position of the flowers of Thesium may 

 result from the union of the pedicel with the leaf or 

 petiole. 



The second example of petiolary flowers is that of 

 those which spring, it is said, from the common petioles 

 of pinnate leaves ; as, for example, in several species of 

 Phyllanthus. These flowers always arise from the axils 

 of the organs which are called leaflets, when the axis 

 receives the name of petiole ; but the truth is, that what 

 is called a compound leaf is a branch with alternate 

 leaves, and consequently the flowers are axillary as 

 usual. "What is remarkable in this kind of branches 

 (which Martius has happily designated by the name of 

 Rami pinncpformes) is, that their base is articulated with 

 the stem. The Zizyphus, after some years, elucidates 

 the nature of these branches which resemble leaves : 

 when an old one is observed, we see here and there 

 kinds of thick knots, from which arise eight or ten small 

 branches in a bundle ; each of these is simple, and bears 

 alternate leaves, and frequently flowers, in its axil : in 

 the autumn, a part of these branches disarticulate and 

 fall off, whilst some remain and become true persistent 

 branches which are not capable of being disarticulated. 

 It is impossible for any one to have followed the vege- 



