68 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



for it is from the Greek iiioiios, alone, and the word for petal. 

 Sympetalous is somewhat nearer the mark for the first part 

 of the word is the Greek syn meaning with, though this does 

 not exactly express it. A closer approximation is embcxlied 

 i;i gauK^petalous, frc^m the Greek gamos meaning a union or 

 marriage, but none of the terms" in use exactly indicates the 

 situation. It may be noted, also, that gamophyllous and 

 monophyllous are terms used to indicate the union of perianth 

 segments. Polyphyllous, however, relates to leaves and nt)t 

 to flowers. 



Brachysm in Maize. — When a plant is smaller than the 

 normal in all its parts we call it a dwarf, but when only cer- 

 tain parts are dwarfed a new term is necessary. O. F. Cook 

 who studied instances of this kind in cotton, suggested the 

 term brachysm for such departures from the normal. Good 

 illustrations of brachysm are found in the races of bush beans, 

 dwarf peas, bush squashes, etc, where the internodes alone 

 are shortened. A recent addition to this list is a brachytic 

 form of maize which is less than a third as tall as the ordi- 

 nary forms, but still sports as many leaves. This form origi- 

 nated as a hybrid between Algerian pop-corn and a Chinese 

 waxy variety. The usefulness of such a form for the western 

 regions of dry soil and high winds is apparent. In appearance 

 the new form greatly resembles the Hopi corn so commonly 

 cultivated by the pueblo indians of the southwest. This latter 

 varietN is so short that the ears are often halfburied in the 

 sand in which the plant grows. The vvriter has seen full-sized 

 ears on plants of this kind less than two feet high. Crosses 

 between the Hopi corn and the new form did not give encour- 

 a^imr varieties, but crossed with normal forms some of tlie 

 progen\- were brachytic and these give promise of developing 



