MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN. 85 



were pale yellow and endured less than a fortnight, the entire shoot 

 perishing very quickly. The epidermis both of the laminae and of 

 the petioles showed excessive elongation, and also perfect and open 

 stomata, in addition to large numbers of these organs which did not 

 reach the stage of full differentiation of the guard cells. The fleshy 

 roots perished quickly after the death of the leaves. 



Caladium esculentum Vent. 

 Corms of Caladium placed in the dark chamber in February, 

 1900, soon began to send up a succession of leaves with petioles i 

 to 1.3 meters in length, with the laminae only partly unrolled. 

 These laminae showed an extension of 25 cm. in length and 15 cm. 

 in width when flattened out. The epidermal cells of the laminae 



Fig. 41. Etiolated leaves of Caladium esculentum. 



were very nearly the same as the normal in general size and outline, 

 but those of the petiole were excessively elongated in a degree fairly 

 correspondent with the petiole. The production of the etiolated 

 leaves continued without interruption for a period of about 20 

 months, when the main bud perished, and activity of the lateral buds 

 was exhibited in the same manner for some time. 



