The young flowers appear to be arranged like a corymb but in mature state the longer pedicels of the lower flowers do not bring them to the level of upper ones, e.g., Mustard. 4. Umbel (Fig. 5.70): All the pedicellate flowers arise from a single point in a centripetal fashion because the peduncle is reduced. An involucres or a whorl of bracts is often present at the base of flowers, e.g., Androsace, Centella asiatica (= Hydrocotyle asiatica, vern. Brahmi). Umbel is also a unit of inflorescence in family Apiaceae (=Umbelliferae). 5. Spike (Fig. 5.71): An elongated peduncle bears sessile flowers in an acropetal fashion, e.g., Chaff Flower (Achyranthes), Bottle Brush (Callistemon), Adhatoda vasica Amaranth. 6. Spikelet (Fig. 5.68):
Types of Inflorescence: 5 Types (With Diagram) | Plants
The following points highlight the five major types of Inflorescence. The types are: 1. Solitary Flowers 2. Racemose Inflorescence 3. Cymose Inflorescence 4. Mixed Inflorescence 5. Special Inflorescence.
Flowers occur singly or are separated from other flowers of the same plant by vegetative regions. Solitary flowers are formed by direct transformation of shoot tips into flowers. They are of two types:
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(i) Solitary Terminal: Single flowers occur at the tips of the main stem and its branches, e.g., Poppy, (ii) Solitary Axillary: Single flowers occur in the axils of ordinary green or foliage leaves, e.g., Petunia, Garden Nasturtium, and Shoe Flower.
Type # 2. Racemose Inflorescence:
Racemose inflorescence is an indeterminate inflorescence which shows indefinite growth and bears a number of flowers due to the presence of active growing point. The arrangement of flowers is either acropetal (older towards base and younger towards apex) or centripetal (older towards periphery and younger towards centre). Racemose inflorescence is of two types, simple and compound.
Simple Racemose Inflorescence (Fig 5.68):
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Simple racemose inflorescence is that indefinite inflorescence in which the peduncle is un-branched. It is of the following types: 1. Typical Raceme: An un-branched elongated peduncle bears stalked or pedicellate flowers in an acropetal fashion, e.g., Larkspur (Delphinium, Fig. 5.69 A), Lupin (Lupinus), Radish (Raphanus), Linaria. 2. Corymb: An un-branched peduncle bears pedicellate flowers in an acropetal fashion (like a typical raceme) but the pedicels of the lower flowers are longer. In this way, all the flowers come to lie at the same level, e.g., Candytuft (Iberis amara, Fig. 5.69 B). 3. Corymbose Raceme (Fig. 5.69. C):
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The young flowers appear to be arranged like a corymb but in mature state the longer pedicels of the lower flowers do not bring them to the level of upper ones, e.g., Mustard. 
4. Umbel (Fig. 5.70): All the pedicellate flowers arise from a single point in a centripetal fashion because the peduncle is reduced. An involucres or a whorl of bracts is often present at the base of flowers, e.g., Androsace, Centella asiatica (= Hydrocotyle asiatica, vern. Brahmi). Umbel is also a unit of inflorescence in family Apiaceae (=Umbelliferae). 
5. Spike (Fig. 5.71): An elongated peduncle bears sessile flowers in an acropetal fashion, e.g., Chaff Flower (Achyranthes), Bottle Brush (Callistemon), Adhatoda vasica Amaranth. 
6. Spikelet (Fig. 5.68):
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Spikelets are small and few flowered spikes which are surrounded at the base by two scales or glumes. They occur in family Gramineae (e.g., Wheat Oat, Grass, etc.). 7. Catkin (Amentum, Fig. 5.72): The inflorescence is a compact unisexual, often hanging, spike which matures and falls down as a single unit, e.g., Mulberry (Morns, vern. Shahtoot), Poplar (Populus), Willow (Salix), Red Hot Cattail (Acalypha hispidd), Betula, Quercus. 8. Spadix (Fig. 5.73): It is a special type of spike which possesses a fleshy peduncle and a large green or coloured bract called spathe. The peduncle bears an upper coloured and sterile appendix. The lower part of the peduncle possesses sessile unisexual flowers, upper male and lower female. The two types of flowers are separated by downwardly directed sterile hair or neuter flower, e.g., Colocasia, Arum. In a spadix the appendix of the peduncle and the spathe are coloured to attract insects for pollination. The spathe is tubular in the basal region to protect the flowers.
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9. Capitulum or Racemose Head (Fig. 5.74): The peduncle is somewhat flattened to form a receptacle that bears small sessile flowers called florets. The latter are of two types, tubular and ligulate. The florets are arranged in a centripetal fashion, e.g., younger towards the cenre and older towards the periphery. The inflorescence is surrounded by one or more whorls of bracts called involucre. Capitulum inflorescence is found in family compositae, e.g., Tagetes, Zinnia, Sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Cosmos, Chrysanthe mum, Sonchus. It may be tubular homogamous (e.g., Ageratum), ligulate homogamous (e.g., Sonchus) or heterogamous (e.g., Sunflower). In Sunflower, the central disc florets are bisexual and tubular while the peripheral ray florets are sterile or female and ligulate.
Compound Racemose:
It is an indefinite or indeterminate inflorescence in which the peduncle is branched in a racemose fashion with each branch bearing flowers in acropetal or centripetal fashion.
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1. Panicle (Raceme of Racemes or Compound Raceme), e.g., Gold Mohur (Delonix), Cassia fistula, Asphodelus, Yucca, Neem (Azadirachta indica). 2. Compound Corymb (Corymb of Corymbs), e.g., Pyrus, Cauliflower, Candytuft. In Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea vern. hotrytis, vern. Gobhi), the flowers remain undeveloped. 3. Compound Umbel (Umbel of Umbels). Several small or daughter umbels called umbellules arise from a common point in an umbellate fashion. A whorl of bracts, called involucre, is present at the base of the parent umbel. Similar whorls of bracts found at the bases of umbellule’s are called involucels. Compound umbel is characteristic of family umbelliferae e.g., Carrot (Daucos carota), Fennel (Foenlculum vulgare, vern. Saunf), Coriander (Coriandrum sativum, vern. Dhania). 4. Spike of Spikes, e.g., Amaranthus. 5. Compound Spadix (Spadix of Spadices), e.g., Date, Coconut. 6. Compound Capitulum (Capitulum of Capitulum) e.g., Echinops.
Type # 3. Cymose Inflorescence:
Cymose inflorescence is the name of determinate or definite inflorescence in which the tip of the main axis terminates in a flower and further growth continues by one or more lateral branches which also behave like the main axis (Fig. 5.75). The arrangement of flowers is either basipetal or centrifugal. It is of the following types:
a. Uniparoas or Monochasial Cyme (Fig. 5.76).
The terminal bud of main axis ends in flower. A single lateral branch pushes it to one side but also itself ends in a flower. The process is repeated. The peduncle is formed by the fusion of bases of axillary branches and the main axis. It is, therefore, sympodial. Uniparous cyme inflorescence is of two types: (i) Helicoid (Bostryx): All the flowers are borne on the same side forming a sort of helix, e.g., Drosera, Begonia, (ii) Scorpioid (Cincinnus): lowers are alternately borne on both the sides, e.g., Freesia, Tecoma, Heliotropium, Ranunculus bulbosus. A modification of scorpioid cyme is rhipidium. Here all the flowers are borne in one plane, e.g., Solanum nigrum.
b. Biparous or Dichasial Cyme (Fig. 5.77):
A terminal flower is subtended by two lateral bram.hes which also end in flowers. The process is repeated. Inflorescence axis is multipodial. e.g., Pink (Dianthus), Nyctanthes (vern. Har Singar), Spergula, Silene, Jasmine (Jasminum), Clerodendron (Clerodendrum), Bougainvillea, Teak.
c. Multiparous or Polychasial Cyme (Fig. 5.78):
More than two lateral branches continue the growth of the inflorescence when the parent axis ends in a flower. Polychasial cyme generally occurs in the primary divisions. The later divisions often become dichasial followed by monochasial ones. As in biparous cyme, the inflorescence axis is multipodial, e.g., Hamelia patens, Calotropis (vern. Ak, Madar), Asclepias.
d. Cymose Head (Glomerule):
Painterly Photographs of Solitary Flower Stems
February 22, 2018
Text Tish Wrigley
Kate Friend’s latest photography series has a seemingly simple premise: single plant stems, posed in ceramic and glass vessels, are set against block colour backgrounds. Simple at first glance, but they bear closer inspection.
The Botanical Portraits, currently on show at London’s Garden Museum, are the result of a random flash of inspiration. “On a visit to Kew Gardens last winter I was given a perfect sprig of rose hips,” Friend recalls. “At home, I put the stem in a small green ceramic vase and photographed it. The image felt very satisfying.”
From this literal green shoot came the larger idea – Friend got in touch with head gardeners at Great Dixter, Houghton Hall, Fern Verrow and the Chelsea Physic Garden to see if they would provide cuttings. The spring and summer of 2017 were spent shooting the resulting specimens either in situ or at home.
The project did not emerge from a meticulous plan, it evolved as she went along. “There was nothing precise about the work, I was just guided by the plants I was gifted by each garden,” Friend says. “All the images were shot at different locations and at different times of day. The light plays an integral part in adjusting the tone.”
At first the plan was to create a pictoral anthology of plants native to England still growing today. But this proved to be as complex a notion as that occupying genealogists who look to define native ‘English’ people. “Nell Jones, head gardener at Chelsea Physic Garden, explained to me that if I wanted to have plants that were ‘indigenous’ to England, I would need to restrict myself to plants that were growing on English soil before the Ice Age melted,” she says.
Her subjects – artichokes, sweetpeas, jester marigolds, a blowsy sprig of kenaf and a cluster of raspberry leaves, among others – are therefore all familiar faces, but not natives in the purist sense. “This served as a powerful reminder of how much immigration and emigration there has been to and from this piece of land,” she explains. “It demonstrates how ‘England’ is the sum of a multitude of different cultural parts. And it debunks the idea of the ‘English Country Garden’.”
Any thoughts of a clichéd overgrown English garden are instantly banished by Friend’s rigorously elegant layouts, which echo the severity found in the Japanese tradition of ‘rikka’ or ‘standing flowers’. The stems are suspended in glass bottles or vases, the latter created by ceramicists Karen Downing, Rachel Lucas Craig and Laura Huston – some specifically for the project. Muted backdrops in mustardy yellows and muddy greens add to the painterly effect of the whole. Somehow these shots of solitary stems are dramatic, mobile and alive.
Botanical Portraits by Kate Friend are on show at the Garden Museum, London, until March 18, 2018.
