FASCIATION IN OXALIS CRENATA. 149 
shown by our Oxalis tubers. Morphologically normal 
tubers, when planted, produced, in some cases at least, 
faseiated stems, Still another instance is yielded by the 
tuber illustrated in pl. 17, f. 2, which has the following 
hir ory: — The plants, after having been photographed, 
v re laid away on a shelf, tubers and all. Three months 
auter, one of the tubers, slightly fasciated, was found to 
have sprouted and to have produced two stems, the one 
normal, the other fasciated. Artificial conditions, such as 
nutrition, irrigation, or the cutting away of parts were here 
entirely excluded. Yet the character is present, in the one 
case in an active, in the other, probably, in a latent condi- 
tion. 
Though it is well known that the members of some 
groups seem to have a greater tendency to fasciate than 
others, this tendency must occur very generally through 
the plant kingdom. Both Monocotyledons ( Asphodeline, 
Lilium, Asparagus etc.) and Dicotyledons ( Verbascum, 
Acacia, Rosa, Sisymbrium etc.), though the former to 
a lesser extent, yield numerous instances. But is this 
tendency present in all members of the plant world? 
De Vries* believes it not necessary toassumethis. ‘*Aller- 
dings scheint die Anlage zu Verbinderungen im Pflanzen- 
reich aiisserst allgemein verbreitet zu sein, doch wohl 
nicht so allgemein, dass sie nicht gewissen Gruppen fehlen 
kénnte.’’ Time and experiment will have to decide. Var- 
ious methods are now known by which fasciation may be 
brought about. Heavy manuring may cause normal de- 
scendants of fasciated plants to fasciate ( Crepis biennis 
Jasciata).f| The stems of biennials with a tendency to 
fasciation, if produced in the first year are mostly normal. 
But if they are produced during the second year, fine fasci- 
ated specimens are ordinarily the result (Aster Tripolium, 
* loc. cit. 551. 
¢ de Vries, H. loc. cit, 561. 
