FLOWERS : THEIR PARTS. 



63 



its branches. The plan of a cyme is illustrated in the following figures. Fig. 



150, to beghi with, is a stem terminated by a flower, which plainly comes from 



a terminal bud or is a terminal flower. Fig. 151 is the same, which has started 



a branch from the axil 



of each of the uppermost 



leaves ; each of these 



ends in a flower-bud. 



Fig. 152 is the same, 



with the side branches 



again branched in the 



same way, each branch 



ending in a flower-bud. 



This makes a cluster 



looking like a corymb, as 



shown in Fig. 143 ; but observe that here in the cyme the middle flower, a, 



which ends the main stem, blossoms first ; next, those flowers marked h ; then 



those marked c, and so on, the centre one of each set being the earliest ; while in 



the corymb the blossoming begins with the outermost flowers and proceeds regu 



larly towards tlie centre. The Elder, the Cornel, and the Hydrangea (Fig. 169) 



have their blossoms in cymes many times branched in this way ; that is, they have 



compound cymes. 



190. A Fascicle is only a close or very much crowded cyme, with very short 

 footstalks to the flowers, or none at all, as the flower-cluster of Sweet- William. 



151 

 Plan of the Cyme. 



§ 2. Forms and Kinds of Flowers. 



191. The Parts of a Flower were illustrated at the beginning of the book, in 



Chapter I., Section I. Let us glance at them again, taking a different flower for 



the example, namely, that of the Three-leaved Stonecrop. Although small, this 



has all the parts very distinct and regular. Fig. 153 is a moderately enlarged view 



of one of the middle or earhest flowers of this Stonecrop. (The others are like it, 



only with their parts in fours instead of fives.) And Fig. 154 shows two parts of 



each sort, one on each side, more magnified, and separated from the end of the 



flower-stalk (or Receptacle'), but standing in their natural position, namely, below or 



outside a Sepal, or leaf of the Calyx ; then a Petal, or leaf of the GoroUa ; then a 



Stamen ; then a Pistil. 



5 



