46 MEMBERS OF PLANTS. 



flat 1 . Linnaeus termed these compound flowers, and 

 Link defends him: Professor Lindley says it would 

 be equally accurate to call " a flock of sheep a com- 

 pound sheep." It may be a catkin 2 , as in the hazel, 

 the willow, the beet, the birch, the fir, the walnut, and 

 the poplar, which Linnaeus confounded with the flower- 

 cup. It may be a spike 3 , as in lavender, agrimony, 

 foxglove, wheat, barley, and many grasses, consisting 

 of a common stalk supporting numerous flowers; 

 cylindrical, as in plantain ; jointed, as in glasswort ; 

 forked, as in heliotrope; or branched, as in mercury. 

 In many grasses and other plants the flower-stalk 4 has 

 a number of spikelets 5 , which with their parts have 

 received several unnecessary names. It may be a 

 panicle 6 , as in horse-chestnut, London pride, oats, and 

 many grasses, consisting of a diffused branching spike, 

 of which the spikelets arise from a common stalk. It 

 may be a cluster 7 , which is either simple without 

 branches, as in the red currant ; compound with 

 branches, as in the vine ; or in form of a bundle, whose 

 lower branches raise their flowers nearly to the same 

 level. Or it may be an umbel 8 , as in parsley, carrot, 

 and hemlock, consisting of small stalks branching from 

 the same point, and rising nearly to the same level, 

 termed sitting, when the rays go from a stem or branch, 



(1) A flat tuft is termed in Latin, Anthodium. 

 (2) In Latin, Amentum. (3) In Latin, Spica. 



(4) In Latin, Rachis or Scobina. 



(5) In Latin, Locustte or Spieula. 



(6; In Latin, Panicla. (7) In Latin, Racemus. 



(8) In Latin, Umbella. 



