When the branches of an indeterminate cluster _arise from a common
point_, like the frame of an umbrella, the cluster is an =umbel=
(Fig. 218). Typical umbels occur in carrot, parsnip, caraway, and
other plants of the parsley family: the family is known as the
Umbelliferæ, or umbel-bearing family. In the carrot and many other
Umbelliferæ, there are small or secondary umbels, called =umbellets=,
at the end of each of the main branches. (In the centre of the wild
carrot umbel one often finds a single, blackish, often aborted
flower, comprising a 1-flowered umbellet.)
[Illustration: FIG. 218.—REMAINS OF A LAST YEAR’S UMBEL OF WILD
CARROT.]
=Centrifugal or Determinate Clusters.=—When the terminal or central
flower opens first, the cluster is said to be =centrifugal=. The
growth of the shoot or cluster is =determinate=, since the length is
definitely determined or stopped by the terminal flower. Fig. 219
shows a determinate or centrifugal mode of flower bearing.
[Illustration: FIG. 219.—DETERMINATE OR CYMOSE ARRANGEMENT.—Wild
geranium. ]
Dense centrifugal clusters are usually flattish on top because of
the cessation of growth in the main or central axis. These compact
flower-clusters are known as =cymes=. Centrifugal clusters are
sometimes said to be cymose in mode. Apples, pears (Fig. 220), and
elders bear flowers in cymes. Some cyme-forms are like umbels in
general appearance. A head-like cymose cluster is a =glomerule=; it
blooms from the top downwards rather than from the base upwards.
=Mixed Clusters.=—Often the cluster is mixed, being determinate in
one part and indeterminate in another part of the same cluster. The
main cluster may be indeterminate, but the branches determinate. The
cluster has the appearance of a panicle, and is usually so called,
but it is really a =thyrse=. Lilac is a familiar example of a thyrse.
In some cases the main cluster is determinate and the branches are
indeterminate, as in hydrangea and elder.
[Illustration: FIG. 220.—CYME OF PEAR. Often imperfect.]
=Inflorescence.=—The _mode_ or _method_ of flower arrangement is
known as the =inflorescence=. That is, the inflorescence is cymose,
corymbose, paniculate, spicate, solitary, determinate, indeterminate.
By custom, however, the word “inflorescence” has come to be used
in works on descriptive botany for the _flower-cluster itself_. Thus
a cyme or a panicle may be called an inflorescence. It will be seen
that even solitary flowers follow either indeterminate or determinate
methods of branching.
[Illustration: FIG. 221.—FORMS OF CENTRIPETAL FLOWER-CLUSTERS.
1, raceme; 2, spike; 3, umbel; 4, head or anthodium; 5, corymb.]
[Illustration: FIG. 222.—CENTRIPETAL INFLORESCENCE, _continued_.
6, spadix; 7, compound umbel; 8, catkin.]
[Illustration: FIG. 223.—CENTRIFUGAL INFLORESCENCE.
1, cyme; 2, scirpioid raceme (or half cyme).]
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