Two different modes of inflorescence are usually recognized in the arrangement of flowers on the stem. (1) The _corymbose_, or _indeterminate inflorescence_ (also indefinite inflorescence), in which the flowers arise from axillary buds, and the terminal bud may continue to grow. (2) The _cymose_ or _determinate inflorescence_ (also _definite inflorescence_) in which the flowers arise from terminal buds. This arrests the growth of the shoot in length. There are several advantages to the plant in the different modes of inflorescence, chief among which is the massing of the flowers, thus increasing the chances for effective pollination. A. FLOWER CLUSTERS WITH INDETERMINATE INFLORESCENCE. =818. The simplest mode of indeterminate inflorescence= is where the flowers arise in the axils of normal foliage leaves, while the terminal bud, as in the florist’s smilax, the bellwort, moneywort, apricot, etc., continues to grow. The flowers are _solitary_ and _axillary_. In other cases which are far more numerous, the flowers are associated into more or less definite clusters in which are a number of recognizable types. The word type used in this sense, it should be understood, does not refer to an original structure which is the source of others. It merely refers to a mode of inflorescence which we attempt to recognize, and about which we group those forms which have a resemblance to one another. There are many forms of flower clusters which do not conform to any one of our recognized types, and are very puzzling. The evolution of the flower clusters has been _natural_, and we cannot make them all conform to an _artificial_ classification. These _types_ are named merely as a matter of convenience in the expression of our ideas. The types usually recognized are as follows: =819. The raceme.=—The flower-shoot is more or less elongated, and the leaves are reduced to a minute size termed _bracts_, while the flowers on lateral axes are solitary in the axils of the bracts. The reduction in the size of the leaves and the somewhat limited growth of the shoot in length, makes the flowers more prominent, and brings them into closer relation than if they were formed in the axils of the leaves on the ordinary foliage shoot. The choke cherry, currant, pokeweed, sourwood, etc., are examples of a raceme (fig. 569). In most plants with the raceme type, while the inflorescence is indeterminate, and the uppermost flowers (those toward the end of the main shoot) are younger, still the period of flowering is somewhat restricted and the raceme stops growing. In a few plants, however, as in the common “shepherd’s-purse,” the raceme continues to grow throughout the summer, so that the lower flowers may have ripened their seed while the terminal portion of the raceme is still growing and producing new flowers. Compound racemes are formed when by branching of the flower-shoot there are several racemes in a cluster, as in the false Solomon’s seal (Smilacina racemosa).