286 Schonland . — On the Morphology 
and thus we get an inflorescence of five flowers, as represented 
in Fig. 7. Such an inflorescence has usually a short stalk, and 
is like the ordinary shoots provided with two prophylls at the 
base. Whole inflorescences or single flowers may also be formed 
in the axils of the prophylls of ordinary shoots. 
The terminal flower of the male inflorescence is, as a rule, 
not preceded by scale-leaves, as indicated above. But Hof- 
meister 1 has stated that they are present here, as in the female 
inflorescences. This is really often the case, although not 
observed by Eichler, but still the structure of the inflorescences 
in which it occurs is not the same as that of the female 
inflorescences. I only observed this apparent abnormality in 
inflorescences developed from dormant buds. I have repre- 
sented it in Fig. 8 I. It is shown there that in the abnormal 
cases the shoots of male plants have only three pairs of 
decussate leaves, as in the normal cases. The abnormality 
is at once understood by comparing it with a case such as 
is represented in Fig. 7, and which I have explained already. 
If in such a case the two lateral flowers are not developed, as 
frequently happens, a three-flowered inflorescence is produced 
which, it is true, agrees in its general structure with the normal 
female inflorescences, but there is one difference (quite apart 
from the number of leaves) by means of which its true nature 
may be at once detected. A normal female inflorescence is 
always transverse (Fig. 1), whereas these inflorescences are 
always median, which must be the case, as two out of the 
three flowers composing it are seated in the axils of the 
equivalents (/, /) of the two foliage-leaves, which are always 
median. The uppermost pair of leaves preceding the terminal 
flowers (. s , s) in such cases is therefore not equivalent to the 
uppermost sterile pair of leaves (A, s 1 , Fig. 1) in the female 
inflorescence. If, again, both the lateral flowers and their 
bracts are suppressed (Fig. 8 II), the resulting inflorescence is 
exactly like the normal male inflorescence, differing only in its 
relative position to the mother-axis and the bract of the shoot. 
1 Neue Beitrage, i. p. 553 . I am quoting here from Eichler, Bliithendiagramme, 
P- 553- 
