6 4 
THE INFLORESCENCE 
Typical dichasial cymes occur in Caryophyllaceae, Gentianaceae, &c. 
(A in figure) ; they are usually found with opposite leaves, but some- 
times with alternate. From the axils of the bracteoles b 2 of the flower 
i spring shoots, each bearing two bracteoles {b 3 ) and a flower (2), and 
so on. Commonly, of the two shoots one is more strongly developed 
than the other, and the difference often becomes more strongly marked 
at each branching, and the cyme may thus even become monochasial 
in its later formed parts (by preference, as it is termed, of one or other 
bracteole). The figure represents all the shoots in one plane, but usually 
the plane of each successive pair of branches is at right angles to that 
of the preceding pair ; in other words, the plane of the shoots 3, 3, 3, 
is at right angles to the plane of the paper. 
Fig. 4. Diagrams of cymose inflorescences (partly after Eichler, 
but modified). A, dichasial cyme ; E, bostryx; C, cincinnus; D, rhipi- 
dium; E, drepanium. The figures 1, 2, 3, &c. mark the flowers and 
their order of age (also indicated by the size of the circles) ; the letters 
b 2) b 3 , &c. mark the bracts, in whose axils the flowers 2, 3, &c. respec- 
tively arise. A is a side view, all the shoots being represented in one 
plane ; the rest are ground-plans. 
