296 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



All the species are perennials in the strictest sense of the term. 

 They form a taproot which, in the section Avonia, is not verj- much 

 branched and, altogether, judging from plants grown in pots, the 

 root-system in this section is not particularly well-de\ eloped, so that 

 in periods of drought they have to rely on protective arrangements 

 of the aerial and sub-aerial organs to keep them alive. The species 

 belonging to the section Avonia possess a more or less developed 

 caudex which remains partly underground. The only species in 

 which I traced the origin of this caudex is A. iisiiilata and I found 

 that here it takes its origin in the first place from the hypocotyle. It 

 has its greatest development in A. Alsionii where it is napiform and 

 is almost as broad as long, namely about 3 cm. In this species 

 numerous simple l)ranches arise from the apex ot the caudex and 

 end in the flower. Similar branching also takes place in A. iistulata 

 where however the main branches bear .secondary branches in a 

 most irregular manner, while in A. papyracca and A. reciirvata 

 l»oih main and ?,ide iaanches are few, the latter arising chiefiy from 

 the base of the former. 



In the second section Telephiastrum we d(j not meet with a 

 well-developed caudex. The species belo'\ging to it branch freely 

 from the base of the stem and produce readily adventitious roots. 

 The secondary branches thus form frequently indei)endent plants. 

 The roots of A. plamentosa are rather thick and nodulo.se. They have 

 huge mucilage-cells in the cortex, which no doubt serve as important 

 water-reservoirs. 



I have seen the cotyledons or seed-leaves in A. papyracca, A. 

 nsliilata and A. plamcntosa. In all of ihem they are semi-globose, 

 fleshy bodies of a reddish colour. h\ A. iistulata, where I followed 

 the germination more carefully than in the others, I found that already 

 the first leaves, formed after the cotyledons, were like all other leaves, 

 and had the same kind of stipules. The first two leaves are practicallv 

 opposite one another, the third and fourth begin to be visiblv displac- 

 ed after they have been formed, and the fifth starts a 2/5 .spiral which 

 is continued throughout the vegetative part of the shoot. Like other 

 authors who have dealt with the genus Aiiacampscros 1 have called 

 the intrafoliar structures which we find in all species l)v the name of 

 " stipules." but in view of the fact that stipules are absent in many 

 Fortulacaccac it seems desiral)le to examine the question whether we 

 have a right to classify these structures as stipules. According to 

 Eichler (See Pax, " Morphologic der Pfianzen," Stuttgart. 1890, p. 77). 

 after the primordium of a leaf has appeared, it becomes separated 

 into two portions, namely, into a lower zone, which does not take 

 part in the formation of the leaf proper, and into an upper zone, from 

 which the lamina arises. From the former, the ba.se of the leaf 

 which remains stationary for some time, the stipular structures take 

 their origin. In tracing the germination of ^. ustulata I could 

 satisfy myself that the so-called stipules really take their origin from 

 the base of the primordium of the leaf. Thev occupy at first the 

 full breadth of the leaf, but in the subsequent development they 

 grow more in breadth than the latter and thus soon exceed them. The 



