202 



Polygonatum verticillatum 



m others as 9 and 20 ail whoris hâve the same number of leaves. 



On doser examination this curious contrast was readily explained; 

 the shoots in question had without exception originally a v^horled 

 phyllotaxis with trimerous (numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 1 1, 12, 13, 

 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21) or tetramerous whoris (numbers 2, 9, 18, 

 20, 22). The growth of the stem had however not taken place in 

 the usual way, so as to separate the successive whoris from each- 

 other, but in many cases one or two leaves of a certain whorl re- 

 mamed attached to thelower or the higher whorl. The mutual posi- 

 tions of the leaves in the so resulting agglomérâtes were quite 

 unaltered, so the real status was easily recognised. At the top of 

 most shoots two whoris were placed together; only in a minority 

 there was one whorl, while in others the terminal agglomerate 

 contained not strictly two whoris, but one or two leaves more or 

 less. 



The numbers 1, 11, 12, 13, 14 had three trimerous whoris, the 

 highest two of which were combined in a terminal agglomerate; 

 the numbers 3, 7 and 10 had only such an terminal agglomerate. 



Of the tetramerous shoots number 2, 9, 18 and 20 need no ex- 

 planation, they were perfectly regular tetramerous, with two com- 

 bined whoris or a single one at the top. 



