I Reprinted from the Bitlletin of the Torrey Hotanical Club, 29: January, 1902.1 



Seeds and Seedlings of Arisaema triphyllum and Arisaema 



Dracontium 



By Rosina J. Rennert 

 (Plate 3) 



Some interesting facts in the germination of the seeds of Aris- 

 aema Draconiuiui have been recently described by Dr. MacDougal. 

 and the author has devoted a greater part of the last year to the 

 comparative study of the morphology and physiology of the seed- 

 lings of this species and of A. triphyllum. Some attention was 

 also given to seedlings of a hybrid between the two species and 

 those of A. flavum from Sikkim, India. 



It was previously found by Dr. MacDougal that the plumule 

 of A. Dracontium emerges from the cotyledonary sheath only in 

 a small proportion of the seedlings, and that only a few of those 

 emerging exhibited a development sufficient to carry the lamina 

 of the first leaf up into the air and unfold it to the light.* 



According to Braun, the closely related species Arum macu- 

 latum displays a similar behavior. He says " So spielt auch an 

 der Keimpflanze die Niederblattbildung eine grossere Rolle, als 

 bei Calla, in dem nach Irmisch auf dem Cotyledon zunachst 

 mehrere unterirdische vegetirende Niederblatte folgen bevor ein 

 Laubblatt, und zwar erst im zweiten Jahre zum Vorsche in kommt."t 

 This statement seems to have escaped the notice of Scott and Sar- 

 gant who have recently made an extended study of these seed- 

 lings.! 



The seedlings of A. triphyllum, on the other hand, send up a 

 plumule as soon as the hypocotyl is firmly established in the soil, 

 while the hybrid between A. Dracontium and A. triphyllum dis- 

 plays a curiously intermediate type of germination. The hypo- 



* MacDougal, D. T. Seedlings of ^ma,fw«. Torreya, 1 : 2. 1901. 



t Braun. Ueber das Vorkommen mehere Hullblatter am Kolben von Arum 

 maculatum L. , Calla palustris, und Richardia Africana Kth. Verb. bot. Ver. Brand- 

 enburg, I : 94. 1859. 



% Scott and Sargant. On ihe Development of Arum maculatum from tbe Seed. 

 Annals Bot. 12:399. 1898. 



37 



