514 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



remains of a few floral parts specially stamens indicate their real nature. 

 The phylloclades were generally green flattened out normally elliptical 

 lanceolate or obovate. 



Ordinarily we do not find cases of vegetative phylloclades growing from 

 the top of a normal fruit. The subject of the right hand picture of plate 

 XXXI in Dr. Burns' article quoted above was a specimen cultivated by me 

 in a pot in the Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens, Kirkee, India. Not having 

 myself noticed previously in nature such vegetative out growths of phyllo- 

 clades from fruits, I referred to Dr. Burns personally. He informed me 

 that he had repeatedly seen joints growing from unripe fruits dropped on 

 ground. 



In the cases presented here these growths were found on ripe as well as 

 green fruits while themselves standing on parent members which latter 

 were either fruits or phylloclades. Besides we see in them additional 

 features of interest. 



The above facts indicate the iuterchangeability of vegetative and re- 

 productive structures in this plant. 



G. B. PATVARDHAN, 

 Agricultural College, Assistant Prof, of Botany. 



PooNA, Sept. 1917. 



No. XXVI.— A SPOKT FROM OPUNTIA ELATIOR, Mill, 



(^With Plate III.) 



On the evening of 23rd May 1917, on my way to one of the fields of the 

 Jagirdar of Bhatkunki (Lat. 17° N., Long. 76° E. approximately) a village 

 in the Bijapur District, India, I happened to notice, casually, a curiously 

 appearing form of Cactus peeping from amidst a hedge of our common 

 Cactus {Opuntia elatior). A close inspection of it revealed that the form 

 was growing as a branch sport from one of the flat joints of the indigenous 

 Opuntia. I showed it at the time to a student of our College, Mr. G. C. 

 Limaye, two of his uncles and another gentleman (Mr. M. R. Bhide of the 

 Ferguson College, Poena) who had accompanied me. I got it collected 

 and brought it with me to Poona. A photograph of it Fig. IV" (2) taken 

 here shows the kind of structure that it has. It was so strangely difl'erent 

 from the common Opuntia of our hedges, namely Opuntia elatior, Mill, that 

 I thought it must be recorded. It appears to me a bud sport from one 

 of the hedge plants. It was found growing from the region (A) on the 

 subject represented in Fig. IV (1). It is regrettable that the two subjects 

 could not be photographed while remaining attached to each other as they 

 were collected separately. Because, also, there was no photographer on 

 the spot and if one had been present, it would have been very diflicult to 

 isolate a sporting plant from the crowds of the hedge for photograph- 

 ing in situ. The plant has cylindrical joints of varying length, the older 

 ones are longer than the young ones. The terminal joints bear globular 

 or oval protuberances produced at every position of an areole. They 

 consist of a glabrous green lower part and an upper part with tufted hairs 

 which are interspersed with minute fleshy coloured scale. Thorns are 

 absent. 



The whole branch as collected was planted in a pot. But the lower 

 thickest part got rotten soon. Slips from the upper joints are planted 

 and are expected to thrive. 



G. B. PATVARDHAN, 

 Agricultural College, Assistant Prof, of Botany. 



Poona, Sept. 1917. 



