Inheritance of Fasciation in Zea. 89 



certain ferns, as shown by Heilbronn * for Aspidium filix mas var. 

 grandiceps, does not make its appearance in the first or second 

 leaf but as a rule only in the fourth or fifth. In Athyrium filix 

 femuia \ar. muliifidutn the cristation only appears with the 

 sixth or eighth leaf. 



If the seed of a fasciated biennial or perennial be sown so 

 early as to permit the plants to produce an inflorescence during 

 the first year of their existence, it is most probable that no fas- 

 ciation will make its appearance. In perennials the fasciated 

 character will probably become evident in the second year. But 

 it must be remembered that excellent culture may cause a bien- 

 nial to flower during the first year and even produce fasciations, 

 as was done by De Vries with Aster tripolium fasciatum.'\ In 

 our experiments, plants, the offspring of a fasciated plant of 

 Delphinium hyhridurn, which in the fall of the first year produced 

 a to all appearances, normal inflorescence, showed during the 

 early part of the next year fasciated inflorescences in nearly 

 every instance. But not all of the inflorescences which were pro- 

 duced by these same plants in the fall of the second year were 

 fasciated, though a number of well developed fasciations oc- 

 curred. This would lead one to establish a connection between 

 the amount of food available and the degree of fasciation. The 

 same thing was noted in our experiment garden in the case of 

 H ieracium virosum fasciattim. Plants raised from seed of fas- 

 ciated individuals produced inflorescences during the first year, 

 but none were fasciated. The second year, however, every in- 

 florescence showed well developed fasciations. And while it 

 may be a matter of indifference whether a perennial produces a 

 desired monstrosity during the first year or during the second, it 

 is otherwise where biennials are concerned. If, for instance, the 

 seed of a fasciated biennial be sown so early as to produce an 

 inflorescence the same year, as has been said, it is generally the 

 experience that no fasciation makes its appearance. But if 

 the culture be arranged so as to bring about the flowering during 

 the second year, then the fasciation will occur. The general rule 



*Heilbronn, A. Apogarnie. Bastardierung und Erblichkeitsverhaltnisse bei einigen Farnen 

 Flora. 101: 1. 1910. 



■fde Vries, H. Sur la culture des fasciations dcs especes annuelles et bisannuelles. Rev. 

 gen. de Bot., 11: 136, 1899. 



