The Production of New and Improved Varieties of Timothy 347 



there is great variability and individual plants usually have the same 

 general type in all culms. 



The character of the basal nodes, bulbs, and method of stooling is 

 illustrated in Fig. 86. When the lower nodes are long, as in e, the leaves 

 are likely to extend higher on the stem than when the lower nodes are 

 short, as in 6, c, and d. There is considerable variation in the size of 



Fig. 86. — Bases of culms showing the bulb development and variation in length of 



lower internode 



bulbs formed by different plants, but this character has not been given 

 special attention in the Cornell experiments. 



The nodes in some plants are dark purple or nearly black, and in others 

 they are green, like the remainder of the stem, or light yellowish green. 

 Various ranges between these two colors are exhibited by different plants, 

 and the width of the colored band around the node may also vary greatly. 

 The color of the nodes is independent of the color of the stems and the 

 other parts of the plant. While in the majority of the plants the general color 

 of stems and leaves before ripening is some shade of green, in some plants 

 the stems and parts of the leaves are purplish or reddish. In a few cases 



