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cal with the tap-root of the plant, as it grows under normal con- 
ditions. The readiness of the root to send out buds and grow, is 
not of much use to the plant in bringing about a rapid and wide 
distribution of the species, in the undisturbed condition, for the 
roots do not spread widely, growing asa rule vertically downward, 
so that a plant and its descendants would be years in spreading a 
few feet in a lateral direction. : 
Having no seeds the plant would be handicapped unless some 
other way of propagation than root-division were developed. The 
emergency has been met in a manner that is as interesting as rare. 
Soon after the plant has ceased flowering, and the form of ripening 
seeds is gone through with, supernumerary buds appear in the axils 
of the leaves on the upper part of the stem and of those subtend- 
ing the branches of the inflorescence. These buds grow into very 
short, acaulescent in fact, branches as the season progresses, and 
give the old flowering stems the appearance of being diseased. A 
careful examination of these short branches shows them to be 
made up of clusters of little leaves, closely resembling seedlings. 
Each of the older leaves in the cluster has the base of its petiole 
thickened, and taken together the reserve food supply of one of 
the branches is considerable. When broken from the parent stem 
and placed in water these branchlets at once send out roots and are 
ready to take their chances in life with much greater likelihood of 
- Success than the ordinary seedling. A single flowering stem will 
often develop more than a hundred of these plantlets, all of which 
are capable of taking root if opportunity offers. Just when or how 
the plantlets separate from the stem has not been determined, but 
most likely they fall with the old flowering stem to the ground. 
Or into the water, and being set free by the breaking up of the 
stem, are driven ashore by the wind, where they readily take root. 
The fact that this provision of the plant for maintaining itself has 
been developed, leads to some interesting speculations as to the 
Origin of the habit, whether not maturing seeds was the cause or 
the effect of the other habit, but like many other questions it 
would seem as if this one would have to go unanswered until 
our knowledge increases. 
