any partial stalks, as in Satyrium hircinum, Engl. Bot. t. 34, Orchis bifolia, t. 22, Plantago major, t. 1558, and media, t. 1559, Potamogeton heterophyllum, t. 1285, and fluitans, t. 1286; but this is so seldom the case, that a little latitude is allowed. Veronica spicata, t. 2, therefore, and Ribes spicatum, t. 1290, as well as the Common Lavender, Lavandula Spica, are sufficiently good examples of a spike, though none of them has entirely sessile flowers; and Linnæus uses the term in numerous instances where it is still less correctly applicable. A spike generally grows erect. Its mode of expansion is much more progressive than that of the raceme, so that a long period elapses between the fading of the lowest flowers and the opening of the upper ones. The flowers are commonly all crowded close together, or if otherwise, they form separate groups, perhaps whorls, when the spike is said to be either interrupted, or whorled; as in some Mints. In Sanguisorba officinalis the spike begins flowering at the top. See Capitulum below.
