OF THE INFLORESCENCE. 17? 



close together, or if otherwise, they form separate 

 groups, perhaps whorls, when the spike is said to 

 be either interrupted, or whorled; as in some Mints. 

 In Sanguisorba ojficinalis the spike begins flower- 

 ing at the top. See Capitulum below. 



A compound spike is seen in Lavandula pinnata, 

 Curt. Mag. t. 401, and Z. abrotanoidcs of Willde- 

 now. 



Sfnca secunda, a spike whose flowers lean all to 

 one side, occurs in Nardus strict a, Engl. Bot. t. 290. 



Spicula,f. 131, a Spikelet, is applied exclusively 

 to grasses that have many florets in one calyx, such 

 florets, ranged on a little stalk, constituting the 

 spikelet, which is therefore a part of the flower it- 

 self, and not of the inflorescence ; see Poa aqua- 

 tica> t. 1315, jluitans, t. 1520, Briza minor, 

 t. 1316V&C. 



CORYMBUS, f. 132, a Corymb, is a spike whose par- 

 tial flower-stalks are gradually longer as they stand 

 lower on the common stalk, so that all the flowers 

 are nearly on a level, of whicli Spirted opul'ifolia, 

 a common shrub in gardens, is an excellent speci- 

 men. The Linnaean class Tetr adynamia exemplifies 

 this less perfectly, as Cardamine pratensis, Engl. 

 Bot. t. 776, Chdranthus sinuatus, t. 462, and the 

 common Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, t. 637, in 

 which the corymbm of flowers becomes a racemus 

 of fruit, as happens also in that section of the Ve- 



m 



