Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/269

 Rh Vitis vinifera, as a true thyrsus, to the characters and appearance of which it correctly answers. Its ultimate terminations are sometimes obscurely umbellate, especially while in blossom, which is no objection here, but can never be the case in a racemus, whether simple or compound. See Racemus.

Of simple flower-stalks, whether solitary or clustered, radical or cauline, axillary, lateral or terminal, we have already spoken.

Linnæus remarks that the most elegant specific characters are taken from the inflorescence. Thus the Apple, ''Engl. Bot. t. 179, and the Pear, form two species of Pyrus'', so far at least a most natural genus, the former of which bears an umbel, the latter a corymb. Pyrola uniflora, t. 146, secunda, t. 517, and umbellata, ''Curt. Mag., t.'' 778, are admirably distinguished by their several forms of inflorescence.