356 Morten P. Porsild. 



them among the winter-standers. To a certain extent this 

 is right, as it does not attain to ripen its fruits till the snow 

 comes, and consequently may happen to spread its seeds on 

 the snow. But the white, paper-thin capsules of Tofielda are 

 to a less extent adapted to this than for instance, the Luzula 

 species, the brown capsules of which are saturated with a sub- 

 stance which makes them proof against the various attacks 

 of the first winter and preserves their hygroscopicity. 



What brings about the skeletonizing of the Tofieldia 

 capsules, I do not know. If it had been effected by mechanical 

 wear of drifting snow in the spring-time there would always 

 be found some which had been lying in sheltered places and 

 remained intact. The apertures are irregular, as if the thin 

 parchment-like capsular membranes had, through iterated 

 freezing or exsiccation, become so fragile that even the slight- 

 est touch was enough to cause the apertures. 



The production of seeds is no doubt abundant in 

 both species, judging by the number of well-developed ovules 

 and by the occurrence of the species in nature. Vegetative 

 propagation is practically excluded, because even the strong- 

 est stream issuing from melting snow would hardly be able 

 to break asunder the cakes which are made up of the strong 

 roots felted together. Only in loose growing mosses a libera- 

 tion of the lateral shoots takes place when the rhizome dies 

 away at the back. 



The seeds (Fig. 7 H) in T. palustris are small, yellow, 

 a little triangular and slightly curved, with few wrinkles 

 faintly marked on the testa. They weigh 0.03 mg. In T. 

 coccinea, of which I have gathered but a few seeds in hibern- 

 ated capsules, they were of about the same size and appear- 

 ance. 



Germination. The first stages have been seen by 

 Klebs (quoted in "Lebensgeschichte") and later on by War- 



