VOLUME LIX NUMBE R 5 



THE 



Botanical Gazette 



MAY 191 5 

 BRANCHING IN THE OPHIOGLOSSACEAE 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL LABORATORY 202 



L O R E N C. l'EUV 

 (WITH PLATES XX AND XXI AND SIX FIGURES) 



The occurrence of branching of the rhizome in this family was 

 mentioned by Roeper (13) in 1859, when he described and figured 

 specimens of Botryckium Lunaria in which the rhizome bore lateral 

 branches. The origin of such branches was investigated by 

 Bruchmann (2), who concluded that they were from adventitious 

 buds of superficial origin. Farmer and Freeman (4) had already 

 ascribed the occasional monopodial branching of Helminthostachys 

 to the occurrence of adventitious buds. In 1902, Gwynne- 

 Vaughan (5) pointed out that small conical masses of parenchyma 

 occur regularly in the axils of the leaves in this genus and suggested 

 that these are vestigial buds. This view has been confirmed by 

 Lang (8), who found that the branches are always axillary in 

 position. The same writer (9) has also shown the regular occur- 

 rence of similar vestigial buds in the axils of the leaves in B. 

 Lunar ia, and has demonstrated that the branches of the rhizome 

 arise from these, and not from buds of adventitious origin, as stated 

 by Bruchmann. 



A branching rhizome of Ophioglossum vulgatum was figured by 

 Stenzel (14) in 1858; although no statement was made, the figure 

 clearly indicates that the branching is dichotomous. Van Tieghem 

 (15) reported similar specimens and, disregarding Roeper's 

 figures, stated that all branching of the rhizome in this family is 



