92 



Elementary Botany 



CHAPTER IX. 

 BRACTS AND INFLORESCENCE. 



The term bract is employed for those leaves in whose axils 

 flower buds instead of leaf buds arise, or for any appendage 

 growing upon the flower-stalk below the flower. 



In some cases, as in the White Dead-nettle, bracts cannot 

 be distinguished, except by their position, from the true leaves 



of the plant ; in other cases, 

 whilst still leaf-like, they dif- 

 fer in shape from the other 

 leaves of the same plant. In 

 all these cases the bracts are 

 said to be foliaceous or leafy 

 bracts. 



Sometimes the bracts are 

 coloured, being then often 

 mistaken for the true flowers, 

 as in the Hydrangea, and in 

 some species of Euphorbia. 

 In other cases the bracts are 

 small and scale-like. 



When several bracts sur- 

 round a single flower as in 

 the Pink, or a head of flowers 

 as in the Marigold (fig. 144), they form an involucre. 



When a single bract is enlarged and ensheaths a single 

 flower whilst in the young state, as in the Narcissus and Snow- 

 flake, or a head of flowers, as in the Cuckoo-pint or Palm, it is 

 called a spathe. 



When bracts are scaly, they are said to be squamous, and 



Fig. 144.— Capitulum of Marigold, with 

 imbricate involucre. 



