eding chapter relating to Heterotaxy.

=Lateral floral prolification of the inflorescence.=--This, which is
termed by Engelmann Ecblastesis foliorum sub floralium,[114] is much the
most common of all these deviations, and it is met with in every degree,
from the presence of a single supernumerary flower in the axil of a
bract to the existence of a small cluster or panicle of such flowers.

[Illustration: FIG. 53.--Lateral prolification in inflorescence of
_Pelargonium_.]

It is common in the _Anemone coronaria_ and _hortensis_, also in the
common scarlet _Pelargonium_ (fig. 53). It has been frequently recorded
in _Poterium sanguisorba_, and in _Sanguisorba officinalis_, and is
especially common in _Umbelliferae_, _Dipsacaceae_, and _Compositae_; a
familiar illustration in the latter order is afforded by the
hen-and-chicken daisy. In some species of Compositae, indeed, it is a
normal and constant occurrence, while in other cases, such as _Filago
germanica_, usually described as proliferous, there is not, strictly
speaking, any prolification, for the branching of the stalk takes place
below the inflorescence, and the branches originate from the axils of
ordinary leaves, not from the floral leaves or bracts. _Convolvulus
Sepium_ is very commonly subject to the production of flower-buds from
the axils of the floral leaves. The several species of Plantain
(_Plantago_) seem very liable to this and similar changes.
Schlechtendal[115] gives a summary of the various kinds of malformation
affecting the inflorescence in _Plantago_, and divides them into five
groups, as follows:--1st, bracteate, wherein the inferior bracts are
quite leaf-like, as is frequently seen in _Plantago major_. 2nd,
roseate; bracts leafy in tufts or rosettes, without flowers, as in the
so-called rose plantain, common in old-fashioned gardens in this
country. 3rd, polystachyate; spike-branched, bearing other spikes in the
axils of the bracts, as in _P. lanceolata_, _P. maritima_, &c. 4th,
proliferous, where the flower-stalk bears a rosette, a spike, or a head
with other rosettes. 5th, paniculate, in which the inflorescence has
become a much-branched pyramidal panicle, covered with little bracts,
and with very rudimentary flowers.[116] The first two groups belong
rather to frondescence of the bracts; but with regard to the whole of
them it will easily be surmised that intermediate forms occur, linking
one group to the other, and defying exact allocation in