FASCIATION. 15 



crest along the apex. "When, as often happens, the 

 deformity is accompanied with a twisting of the brancli 

 spirally, the buds may be placed irregularly, or in other 

 cases along the free edge of the spiral curve. In a 

 specimen of Bupleuriviii falcatum mentioned by Moquin 

 the spiral arrangement of the leaves was replaced by a 

 series of perfect whorls, each consisting of five, six, 

 seven, or eight segments, and there was a flower-stalk 

 in the axil of each leaf. 



When flowers are borne on these fasciated stems 

 they are generally altered in structure ; sometimes the 

 thalamus itself becomes more or less fasciated or flat- 

 tened, and the difierent organs of the flower are arranged 

 on an elliptical axis. A case of this nature is described 

 by Schlechtendal (' Bot. Zeit.,' 1857, p. 880), in Cytisus 

 nigricans, and M. Moquin-Tandon describes an instance 

 in the vine in one flower of which sepals, petals, stamens, 

 and ovary were abortive, while the receptacle was hyper- 

 trophied and fasciated, and bore on its surface a few 

 adventitious buds.^ The pedicels of Streptocarpus Bexii 

 have also been observed in a fasciated state." 



It has been occasionally observed that the fasciated 

 condition is hereditary ; thus, Moquin relates that 

 some seeds of a fasciated Cirsium reproduced the same 

 condition in the seedlings,' while a similar tendency 

 is inherited in the case of the cockscomb (Gehsia). 



With reference to the nature of the deformity in 

 question there is a difference of opinion ; while most 

 authors consider it to be due to the causes before men- 

 tioned, Moquin was of opinion that fasciation was due 

 to a flattening of a single stem or branch. Linnasus, on 

 the other hand, considered such stems to be the result 

 of the formation of an unusual number of buds, the 

 shoots resulting from which became coherent as growth 

 proceeded : '^Fasciata did solet planta cmnplures canles 

 connascuntur, nt umis ex pJurimis instar fasciw evadat 



' ' Bull. Soc. Bot. France,' 1860, p. 881. 

 ' Ibid., 1861, p. 708. 

 Ibid., 1860, p. 923. 



