Oct. 1906.] 341 Miscellaneous. 



The flowers may be sessile (stalkless; or on stalks. Each flower usually 

 arises in the axil of a leaf, termed its bract, and any leaver between the bract and 

 the flower, on the same stalk as the flower, are termed bracteoles or bracelets. Most 

 commonly there are either two or one, but they may be absent, or many. 

 Sometimes the stalks of the flowers of the inflorescence all start at one point and 

 then the bracts are generally condensed there into a whorl or involucre. The term 

 is also given to a whorl of leaves on the same stalk as one flower. Sometimes the 

 bract is a large leaf more or less enclosing the whole inflorescence, and is then 

 termed a spathe. 



Flowers may be solitary, or two or three together in the axils of all or some 

 of the leaves, but most commonly they are massed into inflorescences. The 

 simplest type is the raceme in which the main stalk grows steadily onwards, 

 bearing lateral branches in regular succession, and each latei'al branch ending in 

 a flower ("see plate). This is well seen in cress, mustard, etc. 



If, instead of each branch of a raceme being one-flowered, it forms a raceme 

 itself, the resulting inflorescence is a panicle. But the definitions of inflorescences 

 are loosely applied, and auy inflorescence presenting this loosely branched appearance 

 is usually called a panicle. If in the simple raceme we imagine all the flowers 

 sessile, we get a spike, as in the agrimony, etc. If in a raceme the lateral stalks 

 grow so rapidly as to keep all the flowers at one level, we get a corymb, as in 

 candytuft. If we imagine all the flowers of the corymb to spring at one point, 

 Ave get an ximbel, and if the flowers of an umbel be imagined sessile, a head as in 

 dandelion, goatweed, sunflower, etc., (see plate for all these). In all these inflor- 

 escences the order of opening of the flowers is evidently towards the centre, 

 where the youngest flowers will be, but in many inflorescences the oldest flower 

 is in the middle and the younger ones outside. Such inflorescences are called cymes 

 and may be of many forms, often more or less closely imitating the racemose inflor. 

 scences (see plate). 



The great advantage of an inflorescence appears to be the massing of the 

 flowers close together, so that insects are more attracted by the greater conspi- 

 cuousness, and the chance of pollination is much greater. 



THE FLOWER. 



The flower consists essentially of a short shoot or stem, the receptacle, 

 bearing sporophylls, the stamens and carpels. The former are usually short stalks, 

 each ending in an anther or receptacle for the little pollen grains, the latter are 

 generally united in various ways as we shall see. In addition to these, nearly 

 all flowers have also a perianth or set of non-spore-bearing leaves, outside the 

 stamens and carpels. As a general rule these are in two rows, an outer green 

 or membranous, called the calyx, and composed of sepals, and an inner, brightly 

 coloured, the corolla, composed of petals. In such a flower as the lily, where 

 all the leaves are alike, we speak of the perianth, and perianth-leaves. 



When we examine a lot of different flowers, we find what at first sight 

 appears to be almost infinite variety in them. Some have three, some four, 

 some five leaves, or stamens, or carpels, in a whorl, some have no definite whorls at 

 all; some have the petals free from one another, some united; some have no 

 stamens or no carpels ; some have the stamens united to the petals, some not ; some 

 have convex, some concave receptacles, and so on. 



When we examine the flowers in detail, we find that all this immense 

 variety can be brought under a few heads, with which we may now proceed 

 to deal. 



Segregation of the Sporophylls (stamens and carpels), or grouping or each 

 kind by itself, is characteristic of existing flowers. They may be all in the same 



