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BOTANICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 



Propagation of Lysimachia terrestris (L.) B.S.P. 

 By D. T. MacDougal. 



In the course of some studies on etiolative reactions, the 

 writer had occasion to make numerous cultures of Lysimachia 

 terrestris, and the facts gained seemed to be of such general 

 interest in their bearing upon the physiology of propagation 

 as to be worthy of separate presentation. 



This plant is an inhabitant of swampy meadows and moist 

 thickets in eastern North Ameiica. The subterranean por- 

 tion of the plant consists of a more or less sparingly branched 

 rhizome. At the beginning of the season the terminal buds 

 acquire apogeotropism and develop leafy, branching stems 

 bearing a terminal virgate raceme of inconspicuous flowers. 

 The slowly extending rhizomes accomplish some multiplica- 

 tion of the individuals by the dying away of the older por- 

 tions leaving the younger detached branches as independent 

 and new plants. The greatest amount of propagation, how- 

 ever, is accomplished by the bulbils. 



The bulbils are formed in the axils of 

 the leaves of the main aerial stems. 

 These bodies are 4 to 15 mm. long with 

 a diameter of 2 to 3 mm. in the middle, 

 tapering slightly to the blunt basal end 

 and sharply to the pointed apex. Their 

 greatest diameter is about twice that of 

 the main stem on which they are formed. 

 These bulbils are generally branches of 

 Fig. i. Apical portion f the first order, though often found in 

 of stem with bulbils. the axilg of thege branches, and, as a 



natural consequence, the bulbils themselves are sometimes 

 branched. The bulbil shows the three to five internodes of 

 the normal branch, and the pair of short ovate scales arising 

 from each node gives them the appearance of a loranthaceous 



