212 TUMOURS OF EUCALYPTS AND ANGOPHORAS, 



is missing, is shown on the advanced seedling in PI. xix. The 

 seedling-stem (s.st.) perished, whereupon the main nodule-shoot 

 took up the running, and this gave the nodule a chance of 

 making a fresh start. This is the largest, individual nodule we 

 have yet seen. The photo is reduced by somewhat more than 

 one-third. Composite tumours at first are usually more or less 

 pyriform in shape, especially if they have no shoots, or only 

 insignificant ones (PI. xii., fig. on the right). Some of the later 

 stages of the B. sideroxy Ion-series show how the upper portion 

 of the tumour fills out when there is a good series of shoots 

 round the summit. As long as the shoots last, and continue to 

 grow, the composite tumours may be expected to progress pro- 

 portionately. 



The number of nodule-bearing shoots on a seedling, like the 

 number of shoots on individual nodules, if the conditions are 

 favourable, is sometimes surprising. The oldest nodules are 

 likely to show ihem first, and to have most shoots. The basal 

 pair, or only one of them, will very often show one or more, 

 when the others are without them. But the nodules of any 

 pair, or one of them, may have shoots, when the others have 

 none. Both, or one, of several pairs may have at least one shoot. 

 Or the buds may remain dormant, and no shoots at all may 

 develop, as in most refractory seedlings. 



It would be unusual to find more than one branch in a leaf- 

 axil, though, of course, there may be reserve-buds. Three shoots 

 are often present on a single nodule, but there may be as many 

 as seven, or even more, in difi'erent stages. Fig. 1 of PI. vi., shows 

 a very attractive bush-seedling of Anyophora lanceolata, pro- 

 bably not under two years old, photographed while fresh. As 

 shown, it is less than half the natural size, the stem-height 

 above the encircling tumour being about 10^ inches. The 

 tumour is the result of the complete fusion of the first pair only. 

 The nodules of the second pair, still ver}^ small, unfused, and 

 without shoots, are to be seen, rather indistinctly, a little above, 

 but there is no third pair. Eight shoots are present, four on 

 each side, but two of one group are dead. 



An inspection of the figures of the E. sideroxylon-sevies will 



