1862.] 



POTAMOGETON CRISPUS. 



69 



From the axil of the upper leaves, of the flowering as well as of 

 the barren stems, springs a short branch, not exceeding four to 

 six centimetres, the axis of which is of a horny texture. Its 

 lower leaves are of the usual consistency, but the following have 

 a hardened broad base, toothed at the edge (which forms a 

 sort of sheath for the undeveloped bud), and a strap-shaped 

 fleshy tip, the two parts separated from eacli other by a notch 

 (or joint ?) as in Dionaa muscipula. These little branches, each 

 of which bears a bud in its axil, separate very readily from the 

 parent stem, and fall to the bottom of the water, where they ac- 

 quire a brown colour and horny consistency, but do not undergo 

 any further change till the following January, when one of 

 these axillary buds is developed into a runner. This becomes a 

 rhizome and brings forth branches. 



HTBESNACTTLUM OP POTAMO&ETON CRISPUS. 



a. Axis and horny leaves of the hybernacuhim of Potamogeton cnsims. b. Unde- 

 veloped bud. c. A vertical section of a, showing three axillary buds. 



I am able fully to confirm these interesting observations. As 

 far back as the 18th of November, in the warm autumn of 

 1818, I noticed on the edge of a half-dried pond an immense 



