36 



ELEMENTARY BOTANY. 



monly surrounded by a modified leaf, called the spathe ; and 

 the catkin or ament, which is scaly. The head differs from 

 a spike in that the axis is reduced, crowding the flowers into 

 a head-like cluster (Fig. 62). A panicle is an open or more or 

 less compounded raceme or corymb (Fig. 63). 



Fig. 53. 



Fig. 54. 



4. The cjnne is a determinate or definite flower-cluster, 

 with a flat or convex top. It resembles the corymb some- 

 what, except that in the latter the flowering is centripetal, 

 while in the cyme it is centrifugal (Fig. 54). A crowded cyme 

 is called a fascicle. Many of the clusters are often com- 

 pound, as compound umbels, compound cymes, etc. The two 

 classes of inflorescence may be represented in one and the 

 same plant; thus the Mint family has cymes or fascicles, 

 which are centrifugal in their flowering, but these are gene- 

 rally composed of spikes or racemes, which are centripetal in 

 their order of flowering. 



