Page:British Flowering Plants.djvu/30

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
There was a problem when proofreading this page.
16
BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS

in the Hazel), and a Cone is a spike with ligneous bracts.

A Raceme has a long axis, and long-stalked flowers (fig. 87).

When the lower stalks are longer than the upper, so that all the flowers stand at a nearly equal level, we have a corymb (fig. 88).

A panicle is a branched raceme (as in Oats, fig. 89).

In an umbel the main axis is short, and numerous stalked flowers stand at the end (Œnanthe, fig. 90).

When the branching stalks support small umbels instead of a flower, this is called a compound umbel (Parsley, fig. 91).

In a cyme the axis terminates in a flower, whereas in an umbel the stalks rise from a point, and consequently the axis bears no flower (Elder, fig. 92).

A flower-head has a very short axis, and very short or sessile flowers (Clover, fig. 93).

Fruit

After the flower has faded, the ovary continues to develop, and as many fruits are produced as the flower contains fertilised ovules or germs. The