THE PI.ANT WORI.D 187 



Briefer Articles. 



A FASCIATED TULIP. 



An unusual abnormality was presented in the spring of last year by 

 numerous specimens of tulips, Tulipa gesneriana ly. var. alba, /I. pL, in 

 a flower-bed at the home of Mr. Gustav F. Hammer, in Cincinnati. The 

 bulbs had been preserved from the growth of 1901 in the same bed, when 

 none of them had shown any unusual development, and now, in the spring 

 of 1903, the bulbs from last year have produced only normal flowers. 

 But in 1902 a large number of them came out with many flowers, some- 

 times, as in the specimen figured, as many as six from each bulb. The 

 treatment of bulbs and of soil had been the same in all three years, and 

 there were no peculiarities in the climatic conditions of 1902 which can 

 be regarded as the cause of the sportive development of the tulips in that 

 year. No similar case appears to have occurred anywhere else in this 

 region. 



The specimen figured had just been taken up with its bulb and trans- 

 planted into a pot when received, and it was photographed at once. 

 Besides the leaf and flower-bearing stem, it had a large cornucopia-shaped 

 ground-leaf and two small ones, mere scales sticking out of the ground. 

 The large ground-leaf had two ribs, and was undoubtedly formed out of 

 two leaves, standing face to face with their laminas transversely curved 

 and the opposing margins connected on one side along their entire length 

 about six inches and so completely that there was no trace of a suture on 

 the other side, only along the proximal two inches, and here a suture was 

 plainly marked. My main reason for considering this leaf composite 

 was, besides its large size, the existence of two mid-ribs. The stem was 

 terete and without any grooves in its proximal three inches up to the 

 first stem-leaf. A transverse section of this portion showed no structure 

 differing from that of the ordinary one-flowered stems. The first stem -leaf 

 was very large and clasped the stem completely. The following internode 

 was two and one-quarter inches long, and showed some traces of longi- 

 tudinal grooves. The next internode was contracted to a fraction of an 

 inch, and the leaves borne at its extremities were coalescent from their 

 bases, the line of insertion running slantingly along and almost around 

 the reduced internode. The union of these leaves continued without a 

 visible suture, along the proximal two-thirds of the entire length ; then 

 they parted by a slit, one-quarter of an inch long, and again became con- 

 nected with a distinct keel-shaped suture, as though the adjoining margins 

 were cemented face to face ; but distally they parted again, each having 

 a free apex, and that of the side whose base commenced lower down 



