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The flowers had a scarcely perceptible scent, but the stem when broken smelled exact- 

 ly like a raw potato. Each plant had been dug up with care, and was accompanied 

 by a large ball of chalky earth, the surface-mould being abundantly intermixed with 

 fragments of the cones of spmce and larch firs, and the leaves of spruce fir, birch and 

 whitethorn, all in a state of decay. Each mass was penneated by roots, the majority 

 of which were also decayed, but some few of them were still living, and I made them 

 out to be those of a fir, a Hieracium and a scabious. I separated the earth from each 

 mass with great care ; the roots of the plants above mentioned falling from the mass 

 as soon as the removal of the earth permitted of their doing so ; and although, from 

 the multiplicity of fibres, many of them had obviously been in immediate contact with 

 the Monotropa, there appeared to be nothing like adhesion ; and in no instance that 

 I could detect was any portion of either of the roots contorted, swollen, shrunk or al- 

 tered in appearance by the proximity of the Monotropa. In order to satisfy myself 

 fully on this head, T subjected each detached root to a lengthened and tedious exami- 

 nation under a lens. Having cleared the Monotropa from extraneous substances, I 

 next subjected the plant itself to a rigid scrutiny. It appeared to me to consist of 

 three parts, somewhat analogous to the frond, rhizoma and roots of ferns. The rhi- 

 zoma or underground stem was fleshy, brittle, succulent and branched : the branches 

 were thickly clustered, the termination or growing extremity of each being always ob- 

 tuse : scattered at intervals over the surface of the rhizomata were the gemmae or 

 buds destined to become fronds or ascending flower-stalks; on making a longitudinal 

 section of one of these, the scales of the future frond were observable, neatly packed 

 one within the other. Those portions of the rhizoma on which these gemmse were 

 most observable, were usually more detached than the rest ; and it appears that when 

 a frond begins to ascend, an active formation of rhizomata commences from the same 

 point, shortly forming a dense cluster somewhat difficult of examination. Closely in- 

 vesting every part of these rhizomata except the growing extremities, which, for a 

 short space, are invariably naked, I found the byssoid substance which Mr. Wilson 

 has suggested may be the " woolly matted extremities of grasses," (Phytol. 149) ; this 

 substance I believe to be an intrinsic and most essential portion of the Monotropa, and 

 is the part to which I hare applied the term root. My reasons for supposing it a part 

 of the Monotropa are these : — 1st. Its constant presence ; a " byssoid fungus '' (Phytol. 

 43), " the woolly matted extremities of grasses " (Phytol. 149), or any other extraneous 

 matter, would of necessity be irregular in its appearance. 2ndly. The uniformity of 

 its growth ; the larger end of each fibre being invariably attached to the rhizoma ; the 

 branching, which is frequent, taking place at angles which are uniform among them- 

 selves, and follow the normal mode in other roots ; and the distal extremities being 

 extremely minute. 3rdly. Because on viewing a thin transverse slice of the rhizoma 

 under a high power, the substance of the rhizoma and that of the roots appeared per- 

 fectly continuous and identical. 4thly. That when these fibres were forcibly detached 

 at their origin, a manifest rupture of the cuticle of the rhizoma took place. These 

 roots, for such I must consider them, spread freely over every substance within their 

 reach. In many instances I found them forming a beautifully reticulated covering 

 to the fragments of decaying fir-cones and leaves, and also in the fissures occa- 

 sionally occurring in nodules of chalk. Sometimes they appeared closely investing 

 the extraneous roots, but it is worthy of notice that I generally found these completely 

 decayed : not simply shrivelled as by the exhausting power of a parasite, but in that 

 state of decay in which a slight touch of the forceps would cause immediate separa- 



