INFLORESCENCE. 123 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



MOKPHOLOGY OF FLOWER-LEAVES — INFLORESCENCE — THE 



CALYX THE COROLLA. — -THE STAMENS — THE PISTIL 



THE FRUIT THE SEED — GERMINATION. 



185. From au examination of the various forms 

 presented by foliage-leaves, we proceed now to those of 

 the floral ones, and we shall first consider the chief 

 modifications in the arrangement of flowers as a wlwle^ 

 to which the term inflorescence is applied. 



As the organs of which flowers are made up.are strictly 

 leaf-forms, the special stalks upon which they are 

 produced (peduncles and pedicels) are true branches, and 

 their development is in strict accordance with the 

 principles enunciated in sections 141—144. As there 

 stated, the almost invariable mode of branching in phan- 

 erogams is monopodial, either after the hotryose type or 

 after the cymose type. So inflorescence is found to 

 proceed upon one or other of these two plans. 



186. To understand these let us recur to our specimens 

 of Shepherd's Purse and Buttercup. You wiW reipember 

 that in the former the peduncle continues to lengthen 

 as long as the summer lasts, and new flowers continue 

 to be produced at the upper end. Observe, however, 

 that every one of the flowers is produced on the side of the 

 stem, that as the stem lengthens new lateral buds appear, 

 and that there is no flower on the e7id of the stem. The 

 production of the flowering branches (pedicels) and the 

 continuation of the main axis are, in fact, exactly 

 analogous to the growth of the Spruce, as explained in 

 section 142. 



