Tricot yls, Ilciiii-lricotyls, and Tctracotyls. 361 



stand in a whorl and the seedhng cannot be distinguished 

 from those in whicli the seed-leaves and not the axis have 

 divided. Only after further growth its true nature can 

 be decided. If, huwever, the doubling is continued with- 

 out splitting of the stem, peculiar fasciated plants may 

 \)Q the result. In such cases the real state of affairs often 

 remains hidden. 



In Ainarantus spcciosiis especially, I have often ob- 

 served such twins (Fig. 71), and also in Datura Stra- 

 moniuin, Acer Pseud o-Plataniis (Fig. 70) etc.^ Fig. 72 

 represents a section of a stem of a tetracotylous plant of 



Fig. 71. Seedlings of Amarantus speciosiis. A, tetracotyl- 

 ous ; B, twin, each of the split halves of the axis bearing 

 two seed-leaves ; C, twin, one of whose halves is tricotyl- 

 OLis ; D, hemi-pentacotylous seedling, the sole instance of 

 this case in a culture of over 20,000 seedlings ; E, Tri- 

 syncotylous plant. Harvest of 1893. 



Amarantus speciosus, which split at a considerable height 

 above the insertion of the cotyledons and bore in the 

 fork two leaves the midrib of which had grown together 

 on the dorsal side up to within a short distance of the 

 apex. In the axils of these leaves small branches were 

 seen with a little terminal inflorescence and a small leaf 

 inserted below this. Above this point the two branches 

 of the fork were of normal growth. Fig. 70 represents 



^ See L. J. Leger's exhaustive work on the anomalies in the seed- 

 lings of Acer Pseudo-Platanus. Bull. Soc. Linn. Normandic, 1889, p. 

 199. with plate. 



