INTERBUITION. 



327 



Dar\vin, speaking of the tendrils of Bignonia 

 capreolata, says it is a highly remarkable fact that a 

 leaf should be metamorphosed into a branched organ, 

 which turns from the light, and which can, by its ex- 

 tremities, either crawl like a root into crevices, or 

 seize hold of minute projecting points, these extremities 

 subsequently forming cellular masses, which envelope 

 by their growth the first fibres and secrete an adhesive 

 cement. 



Interrupted growth. This term is here used in the 

 same sense as in ordinary descriptive botany, as when 

 an " interruptedly pinnate" leaf is spoken of. A similar 

 alternation may be observed occasionally as a terato- 

 logical occurrence, though it is not easy to account 

 for it. 



Fig. 175 shows an instance of the kind in a radish, 



Fio. 175. Intemipted gi-owtb 

 of Radish (from the * American 

 Agriculturiat.') 



Fig. 176. Interrupted growth 

 in Apple. 



and fig. 176 a similar deformity in the case of an 

 apple, the dilatation of the flower- stalk below the 

 ordinary fruit producing an appearance as if there were 

 two fruits one above another. 



In leaves this peculiar irregularity of develofujent 

 is more common. 



