223 described. 



A simil«^r remprl'sble mode of p-ro^'-th occurs in i-, pygmaeum, 

 pnr^ the r^e'^ulipr end verv _chprrinp I-. evolution (^if^. 96, from a 

 rhotop-ranh by "^r. -^odier '^ep.th) , vrhose beautiful rur'^le flowers 

 5re three or four times the diameter of the tiny grov.'ths produc- 

 ing them, when resting shrivels its leaves to a V;hite pepery con- 

 sistence comrleteli'' concealing the youn?: leaves under them. Both 

 these .letter "nlents have the epriearance of being der d during, the 

 summer t^'me, and cultivators v^ho are unav/are of their peculiar 

 mode o''' groT'th v.rould be apt to throw then away as dead" or dying. 

 In autumn, their period o"'' p-rowth commences and they assume a 

 tot^ll'"' different 8r>r^earance. I have never seen a cultivated spe- 

 cimen of '■''. T>ygmaeum in flower, and judging from the very fev. indi- 

 cations of flowers I have seen u'^on dried specimens, it would 

 s^'^ear that it flowers very sparingly in wild state. 



The sphseroid grours have no free leaves, 3''et their mode of 

 erowth is somewhat similar to that of the cones of the ^L proximum 

 grou'^ and ouite unlike thrt of any other plants. _ "'hen describing 

 the seedlings of this grour (type IV. ^ ?ig. 84, i^-H) i stated that 

 the full-grown cotyledonary stage and the frrowths of the adult 

 plant differed very little excert jn size. Their neculi^r mode of 

 p-rowth exrilains ho^" this is brou';'ht about, ■'^'ig. 97 represents 

 one o-^ thes r>lpnts, v/hica I am separating from ^^esembryanthemum 

 under the a-eneric name of Conophytun (cone-shaped plants). 



A, cotyl^donari'" stage one •'"eek old; ^. the same seedling just 

 a""ter it had c^st off the skin of the cotyledons; C^ e group of 

 four adul-'- growths; ^, f lowering growth in section, shov/ing the 

 flo'-or ^risino" -^rom the bottom of the growth, v.'ith a minute bud at 

 its base; "S-CJ, sections shov/ina* the m^^nner in which the bu£ inside 

 the <?rowth enlarges pnd p-r^dually absorbs all the substance o" the 

 older '^rov'th until onl^r its skin is left, v/hich, after a rest, the 

 nei" grov^th bursts and it is blo-^m aw8.y by the wind, -f-ll natural 

 s''ze, exce'nt A. 



A is a seedlinp" one week old, in the cotyledonary stage, enl^^ rged 

 three diameters; B is the same seedling some months later just 

 after it had cast off the drled-up skin of the cotyledons, natural 

 size. From these fisnres it v/ill be seen that B differs very 

 li-^tTe ^romi A, except in size. This seedling developed inside the 

 cotyledon^r" bod-"- in a aulte invisible manner, just ps is diagram- 

 mf'tically represented in the sectional views of adult full-sized 

 cro-i"tbs at E, ?, G; the young internal grc'th prradually absorbs 

 the substance of the older grov;th until nothing is .left but a 

 dr-i ed and o-^ten vrrinkled whitish or brovm skinof paper-like con- 

 sistence, covering and entirelv concealing the new growth inside. 

 In this condition the riant rests durine- the dry, hot weather, then, 

 "'■^en rain fells, growth again takes place, the dried skin is burst 

 as'in^^er pn'^ c^st off or blo^'n ^vie.-"' by the vand, end flowers are 

 afterwards develoned. Sach of these obconical bodies or grovvths 

 is in reality a bra nc^" let o-f the plant terminated by two fleshy 

 l-^aves fused into an obconical or globose mf ss, with a sm^all 

 ■^Ip-^tened tube passing ^'rom the small mouth-like orifce at the 

 centre o^ the to^ trough the centre of the mass to its base, ^-t 

 the bottom o-f* this tube is a minute bud, which either develops in- 

 to a flower that nushes its ray up through the tube as represented 

 »t "D, or into a vegetative growth as shov.-n at E_G. If it de-velops 

 into a flower, a vegetative bud is always formed on one or both 



