THE INFLOBESCENCE. 



81 



The flowers in the capitula of the Composite are called florets', 

 and different names are applied to this inflorescence, according to 

 the mode of arrangement of the florets. In the Daisy, we observe 

 a yellow middle disk and a white or pinkish ray ; the disk is com- 

 posed of florets different in character from the spreading florets 

 of the ray (fig. 145). Some capital* are wholly discoid, such as 

 those of Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), of Thistle, &c. ; others are 

 wholly radiant, such as those of the Dandelion, Lettuce, &c. 



It should be observed that cultivation tends to convert tubular florets 

 into spreading ones, and so to obliterate the yellow disk or " eye," as we 

 observe in the Dahlia., garden Daisy, &c. 



Capitula of less marked character are found in other families, 

 where, however, the involucre is wanting; for example, the flowers 

 of Clover (TrifoUum) have a capitular arrangement, as also those 

 of many Proteaceous plants (Banksia). In the Fig the peduncle 

 or common receptacle is fleshy and excavated (fig. 147), the 

 flowers being inside and developed centrifugally ; in Dorstenia 

 (fig. 148) the receptacle is flat or slightly concave on the top, 

 while in Artocarpus and other cases the flowers are on the outside 

 of a convex peduncle. These forms of inflorescence are only slight 

 modifications of the capitulum. Such inflorescences must not be 

 confounded with the concave top of the flower-stalk enclosing the 

 carpels of a single flower, as in the Rose. 



Fig. 147. 



Fig. 149. 



Fig. 148. 



ff 147. Inflorescence of the Fig; the flowers inside the excavated fleshy receptacle. 

 Fie. 148. Inflorescence of Dorstenia; the flowers imbedded in.the fleshy receptacle. 

 Fig! 149. Compound umbellate spike inflorescence of Digitaria. 



Forms of Definite Inflorescence. The forms of definite inflores- 

 cence are also termed cymose, the term cyme (fig. 150) being 

 very general in its application ; for it is used in reference to a 



