370 Linnean Society, [Mar. 6, 



ibnormal stem of a species of Dipsacus, on which the following ob- 

 servations, by Mr. Masters, were read : — 



" The specimen was received from Mr. Smith of Witney in Ox- 

 fordshire, to whom it had been given by a blanket manufacturer of 

 that town. From the presence of some small prickles on the remains 

 of the leaves, Mr. Baxter, jun., the Curator of the Oxford Botanic 

 Garden, suggested that it might be the stem of a Dipsacus. Great as 

 is the dissimilarity between this abnormal specimen and the natural 

 appearance of a Teazel-stem, the subsequent testimony of the donor 

 confirms Mr. Baxter's opinion. Moreover, if the explanation here 

 offered be correct, there is little difficulty in supposing it really to 

 have been a TeazeLstem. It has unfortunately been broken, but its 

 general appearance, when it came into our possession, is shown in 

 the accompanying sketch. It then measured about 21 inches in 

 length, and as the specimen seems to have been broken off pretty 

 close to the ground, its original height must have been much less 

 than that of an ordinary Teazel. At the base it is of a cylindrical 

 form ; soon, however, the stem becomes, as it were, twisted on itself, 

 and is then flattened out laterally. A cross section of it at this 

 point would therefore be ovoidal in outline. This portion of the 

 stem is hollow : traces of the pith adhere to its inner surface. The 

 greatest breadth is about 2^ inches ; the breadth, however, gradually 

 diminishes towards the upper part, where the cylindrical form is 

 resumed. The branches, or flower-stalks, are placed one over the 

 other in a line following the spiral curvature of the stem. Some of 

 the branches have been broken off, and indications of several abortive 

 branches are plainly visible. Remains of leaves occur at the base of 

 one or two of the upper branches, and on these are small prickles, 

 such as are found on a Teazel-leaf. The epidermis has for the most 

 part peeled off, showing the course of the woody fibres in a spiral 

 direction all the way up the main stem, but taking an opposite 

 direction from that formed by the line of branches. In the lateral 

 branches the course of the fibres is straight. The obliquity of the 

 spiral is greatest in the lower part of the stem, diminishing as the 

 stem expands laterally, and again increasing towards the upper part, 

 where the stem resumes its cylindrical form. When the course of 

 the fibres is traced from the base of any of the branches, the spiral 

 will be found to terminate about the base of the second branch 

 above that from which the line started. If each turn of the spiral, 

 in this abnormal specimen, be considered to represent an internode, 

 then the opposite and alternate arrangement of the branches of a 

 Dipsacus would seem to be indicated. Should this view be correct. 



