DB. ATTCHISON ON THE FLORA OF HUSIIIAEPUR, 17 



something like the plantain. I have counted as many as a 

 dozen suckers around the parent stem ; and, with one exception 

 (on the Pulneys, where a plant had attained the height of 

 8 feet), the stipe never exceeded the height of 2 or 3 feet; and 

 in the exceptional instance where it had attained 8 feet, there 

 were no suckers around the parent stem. The natives eat the 

 fruit, and are partial to it. The fronds are also made use of in 

 various ways, but not to the same extent as the Phoenicc sylves- 



tris and Phoenix dactijlifera, 



A monstrosity, if I may .so term it, has been observed as oc- 

 curring in a Cocoa-nut-Palm, in which, from one of the flowers 

 on the spadix, a shoot of spring leaves is thrown out. There is 

 a slight tendency to fructification from the flower, and then 

 it is converted into spring leaves, apparently forming a young 

 shoot. This specimen was taken from a Cocoa nut-tree in the 

 province of Travancore. The plant is of the usual size of an or- 

 dinary Cocoa-nut-tree ; but it never puts forth well-developed 

 fruit. On the contrary, the flowers terminate in vernal leaves ; 

 thus, at an average, each spadix or branch bears about thirty 

 to forty such shoots at a time. The leaves are generally con- 

 sidered by botanists homologues of the flower, although their 

 functions are different, the former being engaged in the con- 

 version and assimilation of food, whilst the Tatter takes on tlie 

 office of reproduction, but the type of all being the leaf. Tliis fre- 

 quently occurs in the Mango-tree, where, from some inherent 

 cause, the flowers fail to show, and their place is taken up by 

 the pushing forth of numerous leaves. 



Plants, we know, require a period of rest to form flowers; 

 ajid this is obtained by the cessation of the action of the leaves and 

 roots for a time. During this period the vegetative activity of 

 the sap is directed to the formation of flower-buds ; but should 

 this rest not occur, it continues to produce new leaves and roots 

 in the place of flowers. Thus the absence of rain proves some- 

 times beneficial in arresting the formation of new leaves and 

 roots ; and this favours the production of flowers. * 



Flora of the Hiishiarrfur District of the Punjab. 

 By J. E. T. AiTcVisoN, M.D., F.L.S., &c. 



[Read June 18, 18G8.] 



TnE district of Hushiarpur, in the Punjab, is of a lozengu-shape, 



LITfN. PROC. BOTAXY, TOL. XT. C 



