82 



MORPHOLOGY, OR COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 



number of forms more or less resembling outwardly the raceme, 

 corymb, and others of the indefinite type, but all agreeing in 



Fig. 150. 



Fig. 151. 



Dichasium or dichasial cyme of Cerastium. 



Scorpioid cyme of Myosotis p alustris. 



producing a primary terminal flower on each shoot, and con- 

 tinuing the subsequent evolution by secondary axillary develop- 

 ment, the development of the lateral shoots being thus more vigor- 

 ous than that of the primary shoot. 



The loose cymose inflorescence of many Caryophyllaceae illustrates the 

 definite mode of growth very clearly ; the primary axis terminates in a 

 flower (tigs. 150, 152), then branches arise in the axils of a pair of bracts 

 lower down ; these branches repeat the process, and their branches again, 

 until the flowering shoot is exhausted. 



Cymose inflorescences admit of division into two principal 

 groups, according as they are monopodial or sympodial (see ante, 

 p. 39). 



Monopodial Cymes. Each branch of the inflorescence is here 

 terminated by a primary flower (fig. 152, i), below which are deve- 

 loped two or more secondary flower-stalks, one on each side, and 

 each in its turn surmounted by a flower (fig. 152, n, in, iv). The 

 simplest form of this is the dichasium (figs. 150, 152), the cyme bipare 

 of the French. There is no true dichotomy in such instances, the 

 appearance of such being due to the superior development of the 

 side branches as compared with that of the terminal one. 



Sympodial Cymes. These may be called unilateral, as in them 

 the secondary branches of the same degree are developed on one side 



