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L.P. 



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PROCEEDI^^eS 



/ 901/1. 



OF THE 



\ LINXEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



(OXE HUNDRED AXD FOURTEEXTH SESSIOX, 1901-1902.) 



Xovember 7th, 1901. 

 Prof. S. H. A'lXES, F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



The ^Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



Dr. Eobert Francis Scharff was elected, and Messrs, Coni-ad 

 Theodore Green and Theodore Eichard Eobinson were admitted 

 Fellows of the Society. 



Mr. AV. BoTTiXG Hemsley, F.E.S., F.L.S., on behalf of the 

 Director of the Eoyal Gardens, Kew, exhibited the following spe- 

 cimens : — (1) A AVest -Australian Umbelhferous shrub, Siehera 

 ile-ftexa, which produces tubers, called Yvle by the aborigines, who 

 eat them both raw and coolvcd. Many shrubs in dry countries 

 form large tuberous stocks from which annual stems spring ; but 

 the tubers of Siehera dejUxa grow in strings showing no trace of 

 eyes or buds, but scars where stems may have been detached. 

 Whether independent plants spring from the separate tubers is a 

 question which remains to be determined. — (2) Germinating 

 seeds of Arcmcaria BidivilUi, received from Grahamstown. The 

 peculiarity in the germination is that there are two distinct stages ; 

 in the first stage the radicle emerges from the shell of the seed, 

 eventually brmging out the petioles of the cotyledons and the axis 

 of the plautlet. The radicle grows into a carrot-shaped woody 

 bodv, from which the petioles of the cotyledons disarticulate, 

 leaving a few minute rudimentary leaves forming the point of the 

 plumule. After some weeks the second stage begins with the 

 elongation of the plumule, which eventually becomes the trunk of 

 the tree. It appears that the second stage may be delayed a 



LIXX. SOC. PROCEEDryGS. — SESSION' 1901-1902. h 



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