inflorescence

noun

(L. inflorescere: to become covered with flowers) The arrangement of a group of flowers borne on the same main stalk. In a racemose (or indefinite) inflorescence the tip of the main stem continues to grow and flowers arise below it. Examples are the raceme (e.g. foxglove, lily-of-the-valley: Convallaria majalis), the spike (e.g. wheat, heather: Calluna vulgaris), the catkin or ament (e.g. the male flowers of birch: Betula and hazel), which is a kind of spike that often hangs down from the stem, the spadix (e.g. kack-in-the-plupit: Arisema triphyllum). Flat-topped racemose inflorescences include the umbel, the simple umbel of milkweed: Asclepias syriaca, or the compound umber of water parsnip: Sium cicutaefolium (see Umbelliferae), the capitulum, or head, or anthodium (e.g. daisy, dandelion: Taraxacum officinalis), and the corymb (e.g. candytuft, red chokeberry: Aronia obtusifolia). A cymose (or definite) inflorescence, or cyme, is one in which a flower is produced at the tip of the main stem, which then ceases to grow, e.g. chickweed: genus Cerastium. Growth is continued either by one lateral bud, to produce a monochasium (e.g. buttercup), or by a pair of buds, giving a dichasium (e.g. stitchwort).