Fig. 212.—Lateral Flower of an Abutilon. A greenhouse plant.
Solitary Flowers.—In many cases flowers are borne singly; they are separated from other flowers by leaves. They are then said to be solitary. The solitary flower may be either at the end of the main shoot or axis (Fig. [211]), when it is said to be terminal; or from the side of the shoot (Fig. [212]), when it is said to be lateral or axillary.
Centripetal Clusters.—If the flower-bearing axils were rather close together, an open or leafy flower-cluster might result. If the plant continues to grow from the tip, the older flowers are left farther and farther behind. If the cluster were so short as to be flat or convex on top, the outermost flowers would be the older. A flower-cluster in which the lower or outer flowers open first is said to be a centripetal cluster. It is sometimes said to be an indeterminate cluster, since it is the result of a type of growth which may go on more or less continuously from the apex.
The simplest form of a definite centripetal cluster is a raceme, which is an open elongated cluster in which the flowers are borne singly on very short branches and open from below (that is, from the older part of the shoot) upwards (Fig. [213]). The raceme may be terminal to the main branch; or it may be lateral to it, as in Fig. [214]. Racemes often bear the flowers on one side of the stem, thus forming a single row.
Fig. 213.—Raceme of Currant. Terminal or lateral?
Fig. 215.—Spike of Plantain.
When a centripetal flower-cluster is long and dense and the flowers are sessile or nearly so, it is called a spike (Fig. [215]). Common examples of spikes are plantain, mignonette, mullein.
