Variation in the Ray-flowers 

 of some Compositae. 



By • 

 K. Koriba. 



With Plate V. 



It is of some interest to investigate, how the meristic change 

 of multiple organs is affected by the enviromental and seasonal 

 conditions, and to what extent does the series of Fibonacci^^ in 

 the occurrence of variates hold. 



Last summer I have counted, for the study, the number of 

 rays of three Compositae, namely Arnica unalaschcensis Less. 

 on Mt. Hakkoda, and Aster trinervius Roxb. var. congestus 

 Fr. et Say. and Asteromaea indica Bl, var. pinnatiBda Maxim. 

 in Aomori. The results will be presented in the following pages. 



I. Arnica unalaschcensis Less. 



The plant is found growing abundantly among the alpine 

 vegetation of Mt. Hakkoda (1852 m.), especially in the w^estern 

 inner wall of the ancient crater on the summit and along the 

 eastern slope of the peak. 



Here one should notice two factors that ma\^ have some 

 definite relation to the condition of variation. The one is that 

 the plant sends out only one head from its perennial root, and 

 the other is the difference of thawing of snow by different parts 

 of the mountain. 



There is different significance of the seasonal variation of 

 rays, according to whether the plant has only one head or 

 many. In the multicipital Compositae, the plant itself may 



1) LUDWIG, Weiteres iiber Fibonaccikurven. Eot. Centralbl. Ed. 68, 1896, p. 7. 



