Seeds and Seedlings of Arisaema triphyllum and Arisaema 
Dracontium 
A By Rosina J. RENNERT 
(PLATE 3) 
Some interesting facts in the germination of the seeds of Aris- 
aema Dracontium have been recently described by Dr. MacDougal, 
and the author has devoted a greater part of the last year to the 
comparative study of the morphology and physiology of the seed- 
lings of this species and of A, triphyllum. Some attention was 
also given to seedlings of a hybrid between the two species and 
those of 4. flavum from Sikkim, India. 
It was previously found by Dr. MacDougal that the plumule 
of A. Dracontium emerges from the cotyledonary sheath only in 
a small proportion of the seedlings, and that only a few of those 
emerging exhibited a development sufficient to carry the lamina 
of the first leaf up into the air and unfold it to the light.* 
According to Braun, the closely related species Arum macu- 
latum displays a similar behavior. He says ‘‘So spielt auch an 
der Keimpflanze die Niederblattbildung eine grossere Rolle, als 
bei Ca/la, in dem nach Irmisch auf dem Cotyledon zunachst 
mehrere unterirdische vegetirende Niederblatte folgen bevor ein 
Laubblatt, und zwar erst im zweiten Jahre zum Vorsche in kommt.” + 
This statement seems to have escaped the notice of Scott and Sar- 
gant who have recently made an extended study of these seed- 
lings. t 
The seedlings of A. tiphyllum, on the other hand, send up a 
plumule as soon as the hypocoty] is firmly established in the soil, 
while the hybrid between 4. Dracontium and A. triphyllum dis- 
Plays a curiously intermediate type of germination. The hypo- 
(ihe dees, DT. Seedlings of Arisaema. Torreya, 1:2. 1901. 
Tt Braun. Ueber das Vorkommen mehere Hullblatter am Kolben von Arum 
maculatum 1.., Calla palustris, und Richardia Africana Kth. Verh. bot. Ver. Brand- 
eabury, 1:04. 1859. si 
t Scott and Sargant. On the Development of Arum maculatum from the Seed. 
Annals Bot. 12: 399. 1898. 
me 37 
