42 



POMOLOGY 



American variety Whitaker (P. hortulana) did not differenti- 

 ate until the first week in September. Goff showed that the 

 plum began differentiation in Wisconsin about the 8th of 

 July. The cheriy in Virginia gave evidence that fruit-buds 

 were forming the first week in July and the flower parts had 

 begun to differentiate by the end of the month. Goff's 

 observations are much the same, placing the date at July 1 1th. 

 42. Inflorescence. — In the development of the fruit- 

 buds as described above, the arrangement of the individual 



Fig. 17. — Diagram showing development of the apple. 



flowers is termed the inflorescence. In the apple (Pyrus 

 Malus) it is known botanlcally as a cyme, which by defini- 

 tion is a convex or flat flower-cluster of the determinate 

 type, the central or terminal flower unfolding first. There are 

 times, however, when several of the central flowers open at 

 the same time as the terminal one, and sometimes the ter- 

 minal one is abortive and does not open at all. Black^ has 

 shown graphically the arrangement of the flowers on the axis 

 of the apple. The terminal one is, of course, without a sub- 



1 Black, C. A. N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bull. 10. 1916. 



