SUORT NOTES AND QUERIES. 79 



equally worries me is the great diversity in the position of the accent sanc- 

 tioned by the usage of our foremost botanical writers. I go no further than 

 these, for when we descend to the minora ddera^ the differences are greatly 

 multiplied. To prove my point I shall confine myself to the handbooks of 

 Babington, fifth edition (B.), Hooker (H.), and Syme (S.), and Koch's 

 ' Synopsis ' (K.), taking some twenty plants and classifying my results. B. 

 and S. agree in placing the accent on the penult in Corydalis, Reseda (K.), 

 Oiiohrychh (K.), (Enothera, Cuscuta, A&perugo, Obione, L. Martagon, A. 

 Scorodoprasum, etc., Tric/locJun (K.), P. Hydroplper, Mi/rica (K.); whilst 

 in all these cases H. has the penult short, and K. is silent unless inserted 

 as above. B. stands alone with accent on penult in Koniga (K. is silent), 

 Oxytropis, Doronicum (K. silent), C. Calcitrapa, Tul'ipa ; H. stands alone 

 in accented penult of Ornithopns, Comarum, Arnoseris, Arbutus (forgetting 

 " viride membra sub arbuto stratus"), PJiyUodoce (K. silent), P. Coro- 

 nopus (K. silent) ; S. alone shortens the penult in Petroselinum, Urtica ; 

 K. differs from the English writers in placing the accent on the penult in 

 Cephala)ithera, Gentaurea, Elatine ; H. and S. agree in lengthening the 

 penult of Lapsana ; and finally, in the case of Radiola, B. puts accent on 

 0, H. K. on i, and S. on first syllable. Similar differences might be 

 easily multiplied, and will readily occur to botanists. I think it would 

 be a great advantage to have uniformity in this matter, and surely in the 

 majority of the cases there is but one legitimate pronunciation, since the 

 names are classical names and not anglicized forms. — Egbert Tucker. 



DeI'Ikite and Indefinite Hhizomes. — The division of axes into 

 definite and indefinite has a very important meaning with reference to the 

 general habit of plants. Ordinarily speaking, that is to say, excepting 

 only some wholly abnormal cases, when the terminal bud of an axis is 

 developed into a flower, the growth of "the axis is arrested, and further 

 increase can only take place by the production of axillary buds ; in such 

 a case the axis is said to be definite. On the other hand, if the axis is 

 never terminated by a flower or by anything but a growing bud, its 

 continuous growth will of course proceed unchecked, and it is said to be 

 indefi.nite. A general principle of this kind includes all that is stated in 

 books about definite and indefinite rhizomes, branching, inflorescence. 

 The only difterence between a conn and a rootstock, or rhizome, consists 

 in the fact that a corm is only of a year's duration, while a rootstock 

 consists of a string of annual growths, which remain persistently attached. 

 Tlie only difference, for example, between the corm of Arum maculatum 

 and the rhizome of Solomon's-seal lies in the persistence of the old axes 

 in the latter case and their decay in the former. In both, the terminal 

 bud of the subterranean horizontal axis turns up and produces an aerial 

 development of inflorescence and leaves. The underground growth' is 

 carried on by the elongation, later in the year, of an axillary bud. This 

 is the typical arrangement of a definite rhizome, and it is, perhaps, the 

 most common. Excellent illustrations are supjflied by the Bamboo and 

 the genus Iris, as limited by Mr. Baker. According to fig. 130 in 

 Henfrey's 'Elementary Course,' the Cowslip also has the flowering stem 

 produced by a terminal bud. This would make it an instance of a definite 

 rhizome, but this is almost certainly an error. Throughout the Primu- 

 lacea, axillary inflorescence is the general rule, whether the main axis be 

 erect, prostrate, or subterranean. The genus Prhnula is no exception, as 



