Under this heading are grouped together a number of drugs that consist either of entire flowers or inflorescences, or of parts only of flowers, collected at varying stages of their development.

In some instances the student will find it necessary to soften the drug in water and spread out such parts as the shrivelled petals with a camel's hair brush in order to examine their shape. In other cases a sharp penknife and good lens must be used in order to observe the characteristic details alluded to in the text. For a description of the morphology of the flower and an enumeration of the various forms of inflorescence a text-book of botany must be consulted.