280 



sojne plants, however, which show a decided tendency to bring about a 

 union of frnits, as in tlie strawberry, several of whose fruits and leaves 

 at times grow together. 



Deviations as to the time of the blooming of flowers are sometimes 

 noticed. In Bloomington an apple tree that, besides blooming profusely 

 during the regular time in spring, has two years bloomed twice each year. 

 After blooming in the spring it produced a few blossoms again in August 

 and September of the same year. After blooming the next spring an in- 

 creased number of blossoms were produced in August and September as 

 compared with the same time the preceding year. 



It is well known that apple trees often bloom a second time in the 

 fall in very dry seasons, but in this case the climatic conditions were just 

 the reverse. 



It will be interesting to see what this tree will continue to do in this 

 respect. At the time that the second period of blossoming occurred the 

 tree was bearing a fairly good crop of apples from the first blooms. The 

 same may be seen in many other plants at times, as in violets, horse- 

 chestnuts, anemones, gentians, redbuds, some primulas' and weigela. 



The sudden and complete transformation of color in flowers from the 

 normal sometimes occurs, as in Achillea millifolium, where the rays are 

 pink instead of white. 



The same is true of the common yellow adder's-tongue (Erythronium 

 Americanum) which sometimes, though rarely, produces purple instead 

 of the usual yellow flowers. When found such specimens should be trans- 

 ferred to a rich garden (if it is not possible to guard and grow them in 

 their native habitats, which would be better) and cultivated and closely 

 watched and protected in order to see whether they would reproduce the 

 monstrosities again or even to a greater extent. 



Apparent monstrosities are sometimes caused not naturally by the 

 plant but are frequently caused by some sort of traumatic effect. This 1 

 have repeatedly seen in plants. Especially is this true in the more hardy 

 plants that are able to bear a rather considerable injury without a fatal 

 termination. The common iron weed (Vernonia fasciculata) shows fre- 

 quently a branching only a short distance above the ground and below 

 the usual branching, if partly crushed or otherwise injured. 



Another instance of an ai)parent monstrosity, is the change brought 



' Kerner, Vol. 1, p. 564. 



