TRIPHYLLUM AND ARISAEMA DRACONTIUM 49 
a petiole only, the blade being shriveled before it expands. Mon- 
strosities seem to be very frequent in the leaves of A. Dracontium, 
for instance, the displacement of the mucronate point from the tip 
to the middle of the under surface of the midrib or the multipli- 
cation of these points upon the under surface. The blade is also 
often lobed upon one side and in one instance both sides of the 
leaf showed this peculiarity. 
The petioles of the leaves of both species are streaked with 
red, the color being most abundant near the base. The petiole of 
A. Dracontium is considerably shorter than A. tiphyllum and the 
fibro-vascular system is weaker on the whole although some stems 
of A. Dracontium and A. triphyllum show scarcely any difference. 
In the arrangement of tissue within the stem there is exact simi- 
larity. The bundles are arranged to form an open cylinder gen- 
erally, in A. Dracontium, three on each side of the largest bundle. 
Those stems which attain the greatest development may have in 
addition a bundle running through the center of this cylinder, 
while in J. triphyllum the fibro-vascular system may include still 
another bundle, completing the cylinder and making nine bundles 
in all. | 
The development of the buds goes on during the growth of 
the seedling. Each rudimentary leaf arises as a hollow elevation 
enclosing the next youngest. At the end of the season the stem- 
bud of A. Dracontium has four bracts which enwrap the bud 
at the center and A. #iphyllum agrees exactly with this plan in 
Structure. All but the innermost of these enclosing bud leaves 
remain as rudiments upon the corm protecting the bud. The 
fourth grows large enough to protect the leaf as it pushes through 
the soil the second year, but remains at its base as a membraneous 
sheath. 
The second season all 4. Dracontium corms, like those of A. 
triphyllum, produce one trifoliolate leaf enclosed at the base by a 
sheath which, in those cases where no plumule is produced, must 
be regarded as the first leaf sent up by the plant. The functional 
leaf of the second season is trifoliolate normally, but is subject to 
great variation, such as the whole or partial fusion of two of its 
lobes or the complete obliteration of one of them. Even when the 
leaf is regularly trifoliolate great variations occur in the shape of 
