INFLORESCENCE. 



39 



308. The dilated depressed axis of the capitulum is called 

 the receptacle. 



309. A raceme, or panicle, the lowest flowers of which 

 have long pedicels, and the uppermost short ones, is a 

 corymb l65 ier . 



310. A panicle is a raceme, the flower-buds of which have, 

 in elongating, developed other flower-buds 173 . 



311. A panicle, the middle branches of which are longer 

 than those of the base or apex, is called a thyrsus. 



312. A panicle, the elongation of all the ramifications of 

 which is arrested, so that it assumes the appearance of an 

 umbel, is called a cyme m . 



313. In all modes of inflorescence which proceed from the 

 buds of a single branch, the axis of which is either elongated 

 or not, the flowers expand first at the base of the inflorescence, 

 and last at the summit. This kind of expansion is called 

 centripetal. 



314. When the uppermost or central flowers open first, 

 and those at the base or the circumference last, the expansion 

 is called centrifugal. 



315. The centripetal order of expansion always indicates 

 that the inflorescence proceeds from the developement of the 

 buds of a single branch. 



316. When inflorescence is the result of the developement 

 of several branches, each particular branch follows the centri- 



