42 Linnaan Society. 



and an elliptic or rounded figure if it is of long standing or very in- 

 timate : traces of two medullary canals are almost always found. In 

 a fasciated stem the section gives an elongated figure in which we 

 commonly observe only one compressed canal." 4. " To obtain a 

 fasciated stem by coherence a great number of united branches 

 would be required ; but though an accidental union of two branches 

 or of three may be admitted, it is very difficult for it to occur at the 

 same time among four, five, or six. It is very difficult to suppose 

 that these branches should all meet longitudinally, and that the 

 union, instead of taking place around the central axis, should be en- 

 tirely in one direction." 5. " If fasciated stems were the result of 

 many combined branches, we ought to find cases in which the union 

 is incomplete, and to be able to observe on their surface such a dis- 

 tribution of leaves or buds as would announce the fusion of many 

 partial spirals or verticils." 



Setting aside the anomalies before alluded to, and guarding 

 against the assumption that mere adherence explains an appearance 

 which chiefly depends upon a peculiar position of buds and the pro- 

 duction of numerous branches in a certain relation to each other, 

 Mr. Hincks regards these arguments as not possessing any great 

 weight. In regard to the 1st he remarks, that herbaceous plants 

 which have usually but a single stem, not unfrequently produce 

 several, which often remain distinct, but their union into a sort of 

 fasciated stem is by no means uncommon. In proof of this he 

 showed specimens of Primula vulgaris and Hieracium aureum, exhi- 

 biting the union of two stems so produced, and of Ranunculus bul- 

 bosus showing still greater complexity in the stem, while the prin- 

 cipal flower appeared to be made up of two or three combined. 

 The 2nd objection may appear in certain cases to be just, but the 

 author is of opinion that it is hazardous to conjecture that we have 

 no more leaves present in a fasciated stem than we should have in 

 the same space in an ordinary one, and he referred to specimens on 

 the table as distinctly proving that an increased number of leaves 

 and buds is a general character of fasciated stems. M. Moquin 

 Tandon himself has, indeed, referred to an instance in Bupleurum 

 falcatum where the leaves had been whorled, doubtless, Mr. Hincks 

 observes, from those belonging to two or more stems being collected 

 together. The 3rd argument he regards as very deceptive, for the 

 nature of the transverse section presented by coherent stems must 

 depend not only on the intimacy of their union, but also on the in- 

 ternal structure of the stems themselves. When two flowers adhere 

 without much pressure, they exhibit uniting circles somewhat re- 

 sembling a figure of 8, but when more completely combined they 

 have one circumference of a much- elongated figure, and something 

 similar is to be expected in herbaceous stems. Even the elongated 

 pith of a transversely cut woody fasciated stem only marks the inti- 

 mate union of several branches ; and the author has noticed instances 

 of the union of two and only two stems when the internal appear- 

 ance was the same as in other fasciations. The 4th objection is 

 derived from the improbability of the lateral union of many stems ; 



