162 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. X, NO. 6. 



bimn (P) is here interrupted by the two proto-hadroine vessels. This root is diarchic and there 

 are thus only two groups of leptome. 



The cotyledonary sheath is very thin and perfectly glabrous; the epidermis is thinwalled on 

 both faces and covers a few, two to six, layers of chlorenchyma with chlorophyll. There are 

 only two collateral mestome-bundles containing a broad group of leptome, but only a few vessels. 

 No mechanical tissue was observed. In the cylindrical threadlike portion of the cotyledon the 

 epidermis is also thinwalled, but is here provided with stomata. Two very small collateral 

 mestome-bundles are located in a thinwalled, compact parenchyma of about twenty layers. 



The hypocotyl, of which we have figured half of the central cylinder (PI. IV, tig. 19) has 

 also a thinwalled epidermis covered by a thin, smooth cuticle. The cortex consists of eight 

 layers of roundish cells with narrow intercellular spaces, surrounding a thinwalled endoder- 

 mis (End., fig. 19.) Four collateral mestome-bundles traverse the central cylinder, of which the 

 innermost portion is occupied by a pith. Secondary roots develop on the hypocotyl, in whorls 

 of three or four, from outside the leptome, but inside the endodermis. 



These parts of the seedling, the cotyledon, the hypocotyl, and the first developed system of 

 roots are only of short duration. Thus when the plant commences to bloom they have mostly 

 faded away, while the first internode ( I 1 in fig. 1) is generally to be observed as the basal stem- 

 portion in matured specimens. 



The Ramification of the Shoot. 



The species is an annual and possesses no rhizome, the basal stem-internodes being above 

 ground. The weak ascending main axis is. however, supported by a system of relatively strong- 

 roots, which develop in whorls of about five from the basal nodes. (PI. 1, fig. 2.) A profuse 

 development of lateral shoots takes place at an early stage. Thus the plant become- able to spread 

 over the surface of the ground, the branches being more or less decumbent or ascending. The 

 leaves are alternate and nearly all subtend axillary shoots sometimes accompanied by an acces- 

 sory bud, which is situated at the side of the shoot. Such collateral buds are also known from 

 various Liliaceat and Aracese, for instance. 



Each fully developed and matured shoot becomes, however, terminated by an inflorescence, 

 and the small, leafy shoots which so abundantly occur in this species are only apparently vege- 

 tative, the floral apex having become arrested in its further development. 



The lateral axes are readily distinguished from the main one by the presence of a fore-leaf, 

 which is membranaceous, colorless, and partly tubular, and which occupies the same position as 

 in most of the other monocotyledonous plants, turning its back toward the mother-axis. By 

 studying the composition of a number of shoots of C. nudiflora, we have observed the following 

 arrangement to be the prevalent. 



Our figure 3 (PI. I) represents a stem-portion (A) with a leaf (L 1 ), in the axil of which a 

 shoot is developed with two leaves (L J and L 3 ), besides two inflorescences (I' and P), while the 

 fore-leaves are not visible, being hidden within the sheaths of the green leaves. A diagram of 

 this same shoot-complex (fig. i) may show the exact position of the leaves much better, and we 

 notice here that the axillary branch (B in fig. 3) commences with a fore-leaf (P 1 ) which alternates 

 with the green leaf L 1 , and bears a leaf L\ turned ninety degrees to the side of L 1 and P 1 . 

 Above this leaf (L 2 ) is an inflorescence (I 1 ) with its large green spathe, alternating with the leaf 

 (L 2 ); this inflorescence terminates the shoot (B). Another shoot is visible in the axil of leaf L\ 

 which, like the former, begins with a fore-leaf (P 2 ) alternating with the leaf L 2 . This little 

 shoot bears, also, a green leaf (L 3 ), which shows the same turning to the side as the leaf L 2 , thus 

 forming an angle of ninety degrees with the fore-leaf (P 2 ); an inflorescence, I 2 , terminates the 

 shoot and the spathe alternates with the green leaf, L". 



While thus the fore-leaves alternate with the leaf of the mother-shoot, the succeeding green 

 leaf becomes turned ninety degrees to the side, a structure that seems to he typical of ( '. nudifiora. 

 When more than one green leaf is developed on the shoot, a corresponding number of axillary 

 branches is to be observed, in which the same disposition of fore-leaves and spathes becomes 



