38 RENNERT: SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS OF ARISAEMA 
cotyl, in this case, increases in size at first without sending up a 
plumule, and it is only after the seedling has exhausted the entire 
food supply of the endosperm and has separated from the seed 
that the plumule appears. 
Like A. triphyllum the Indian species, A. favum, follows the 
normal type of germination, and its plumule arises shortly after 
the hypocotyl emerges from the seed. The seedling is only about 
one half the size of that of A. triphyllum. 
As the general structure of the seedling of A. triphyllum re- 
sembles most closely that displayed by A. Dracontium, this species 
was chosen as a basis for comparison in the study of the curious 
variations of A. Dracontium. 
The fruits of A. Dracontium and A. triphyllum are very simi- 
lar. In both the scarlet berries, which have a sweetish, slightly 
acrid taste, are closely crowded upon the spadix. The berries of 
A. Dracontium are larger and fleshier than those of A. tiphyllum 
and contain from three to six seeds, while those of A. tiphyllum 
are one- or three-seeded. In shape the seeds of both are some- 
what ovoid. At the hilum, the seed of A. Dracontium is generally 
puckered into two or three ridges and the short stalk of the funic- 
ulus is conspicuous, while in A. ¢riphyllum the seed is flattened in 
the hilar region, but also bears a prominent funiculus. Elsewhere 
the seeds are well rounded, except when flattened by the pressure 
of other seeds in the same berry. Both seeds bear a rudimentary 
aril which consists of a small disc-shaped fleshy mass situated imme- 
diately inside the coats at the hilar end of the seed, and extending 
as a core down the funiculus. The average size of the seeds of 4. 
Dracontium is 3.5 mm. in transverse and 4.25 mm. in longitudinal 
diameter, while the average seed of A. #iphyl/lum is 4 mm. in trans- 
verse and 3.5 mm. in longitudinal diameter, almost exactly revers- 
ing the proportions of A. Dracontium. When only a few are pro- 
duced in a berry, the seeds of A. Dracontium are larger in both 
axes than those of A. triphyllum, which develop singly. When, 
however, a number of seeds mature in the same berry they develop 
in such a position as to exert a lateral pressure upon each other 
and in consequence the transverse diameter remains shorter. In 
these cases the seeds of A. Dracontium do not attain the size of © ; 
even the smallest of A. triphyllum. On the whole, however, 4. 
