Floristik, Geographie, Systematik etc. 281 



and Surat. (Journ. Bombaj^ nat. Hist. Soc. XXIII. 1. p. 110—117. 

 1914.) 



The list is made with special notes on their habitats ecological 

 relations and time of flowering. Five species entered, are not given 

 by Cooke as denizens of the Presidency. E. M. Jessen (Kew). 



Sinnott, E. W. and I. W. Bailey. In vestigations on the Phy- 

 logenjr of the Angiosperms: No. 4. The Origin and Dis- 

 persal of Herbaceous Angiosperms. (Ann. Bot. XXVIII. p. 

 547—600. 2 Plat. and S Diagr. Oct. 1914.) 



The paper gives a critical discussion of the relative antiquity 

 of herbs and woody plants, and sets forward evidence showingthat 

 herbaceous Vegetation is of comparatively recent development. 



Palaeobotanical evidence. 



Living herbaceous Vascular Cryptogams are undoubtedly des- 

 cended from woody types, and though the evidence is inconclusive, 

 most of the earliest known Angiosperms were also woody. 



Anatomical evidence. 



In those Vascular Cryptogams in which secondary growth oc- 

 curred the cambium appeared as a uniform and continuous layer, 

 irregulariiy in the cambium of the Conifers and Angiosperms is a 

 recent phenomenon duc to the close attachment of the primary to 

 the secondary wood owing to the disappearance of the centripetal 

 wood, the parenchynia produced b}'' the interfascicular cambium is 

 thus recent in origin. 



The validity of Jeffrey's Theory of the origin of the herbaceous 

 type, namely that "the Compound ing of uniseriate rays in connec- 

 tion with leaf traces results in the production of a stem with well 

 separated vascular bundles" is discussed. The evidence in support 

 of the theory is largely drawn from the Rosaceae, and since the 

 Sterns were prostrate or subterranean and hence modified, it must 

 be considerably discounted, they further shew that the theory gene- 

 rally is not in harmony with anatomical facts. Evidence is brought 

 forward to show that the herbaceous type is derived by reduction 

 in cambial activit}^ and b}^ increase in width of the uniseriate ray: 

 and further the herbaceous stem is essentially like the first annual 

 ring of its woody ancestors. 



Phylogenetic evidence. 



Primitive Angiosperms were probabl}^ arborcscent. Where orders 

 or families e.g. Umbellißorae, Legiiminoseae and Viohiceae include 

 both woody and herbaceous species, the woody are the primitive 

 forms, the same fact is true in the case ofgenera. Herbaceous species 

 are absent in more than half the families of Dicotyledons, and the 

 purely herbaceous ones are clearly of recent origin: woody plants 

 are much more common in the more primitive Archichlamydeae than 

 in the Meiachlamydeae. 



P h y t o g e o g r a p h i c evidence. 



The Tropical climate probably approaches that of the time when 

 Angiosperms first appeared, and an analysis of Floras shews that 

 woody plants prevail in the tropics and herbs in the temperate 

 regions. The question of the cause of the development of herbaceous 

 forms in temperate, alpine and arctic regions is fully discussed, it 

 is probably in response to progressive refrigeration duringthe course 

 of the Tertiarv. 



