Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/265

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OF THE INFLORESCENCE.
235


Fasciculus, a Fascicle, is applied to flowers on little stalks, variously inserted and subdivided, collected into a close bundle, level at the top, as the Sweet William, Dianthus barbatus, Curt. Mag. t. 207, and D. Armeria, Engl. Bot. t. 317.


Capitulum, a Head or Tuft, bears the flowers sessile in a globular form, as Statice Armeria, t. 226, Adoxa Moschatellina, t. 453, and Gomphrena globosa, the Globe Amaranthus of the gardens.

Perhaps the inflorescence of Sanguisorba officinalis, t. 1312, might be esteemed a capitulum, because its upper flowers come first to perfection, as in Adoxa, which seems contrary to the nature of a spike; but it does not appear that all capitate flowers expand in the same way, and Sanguisorba canadensis has a real spike, flowering in the usual manner, from the bottom upwards. So Allium descendens, Curt. Mag. 251, opens its upper, or central, flowers first, contrary to the usual order in its genus; both which instances prove such a diversity to be of small moment.