40 



OBGANOGBAPHY. 



The minute branches of the peduncle, or slender stalks 

 Tfbich support the individual flowers, 

 are called pedicels (Fig. 85, jsed). 



47. The bracts are generally dimin- 

 utive leaves which subtend the flower- 

 cluster, or from whose axil the flower 

 stem proceeds (Fig. 85, ir). The sec- 

 ondary or small bracts on the pedicels 

 are called the bractlets (Fig. 85, hr(). 

 They have generally lost the ordinary 

 function of leaves, and in some cases 

 become highly colored like the flower, 

 as in the Painted-cup (^Castelleia), etc. 

 If a single, enlarged bract enclose the flower-cluster, it is 

 called a spathe (Fig. 86). If the bracts are numerous 

 and form a conspicuous cup under the flowers, or an imbri- 

 cated covering around a head of flowers, they form an 

 involucre (Fig. 87, in). The axis of an elongated flower- 

 cluster is called the rachis. When the axis is short, or 

 abortive, so that the flowers are crowded 

 into a head, it is called the receptacle 

 (Fig. 87, ree). 



48. Inflorescence (Lat.yJos, flower) 

 is the mode of flowering, or the situation 

 and arrangement of the blossoms on 

 the plant. If the flowers develop from 

 lateral buds, the inflorescence is called 

 indeterminate, for the shoot, termi- 

 nated by a bud, may continue to grow 

 in length. If the flowers develop from terminal buds, the 



Fig. 80. Spathe of the Indian Turnip. Fig. 87. Keflexed involucre (j») and 

 receptacle (rec) of the Dandelion. 



