ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERS ON THE STEM 187 



JFiG. 130. — Simple Umbel of Cherry. 



198. The Racemes and Related Forms. — If the leaves 

 along the stem were to become very much dwarfed and the 



flowers brought closer together, 

 as they frequently are, a kind 

 of flower-cluster like that of the 

 currant (Fig. 129) or the lily- 

 of-the-valley would result. Such 

 an inflorescence is called a ra- 

 ceme ; the main flower-stalk is 

 known as the 'peduncle ; the little 

 individual flower-stalks are pedi- 

 cels, and the small, more or 

 less scale -like leaves of the 

 peduncle are bracts} 

 Frequently the lower pedicels of a cluster on the 

 general plan of the raceme are longer than the upper 

 ones and make a some- 

 what flat-topped cluster, 

 like that of the hawthorn, 

 the sheep laurel, or the 

 trumpet creeper. This 

 is called a corymb. 



In many cases, for ex- 

 ample the parsnip, the 

 Sweet Cicely, the gin- 

 seng, and the cherry, a 

 group of pedicels of 



nearly equal length ^, staminate flowers ;£, pistillate flowers 



A B 



Fig. 131. — Catkins of Willow. 



1 It is hardly necessary to say that the teacher will find it better in every 

 way, if material is abundant, to begin the study of flower-clusters with the 

 examination of typical specimens by the class, 



