flower spike

I think this is what is called an inflorescence, where stalk-less flowers grow on a upright stem.
What I love about these are how the flowers appear, creeping up the stem with time, the older flowers becoming tatty and withered as the new ones appear like little grains of rice popping into bloom.
Eventually, the whole stem (and these are 50 +centimetres long) looks like a very scruffy caterpillar.