30 THE PHENOMENON OF 



rosa ; or on the lateral sprouts arising from the axils of 

 the cotyledons and the euphyllary leaves next succeeding 

 these on the main sprout, in which case the main sprout 

 dies down either entirely, or at least in the upper part, 

 and this indeed mostly without having carried its develop- 

 ment up to blossoming ; while the lateral sprouts last 

 through the winter in the form of basilar buds or runners 

 penetrating into the soil, and in the second year bring 

 forth a more vigorous generation, mostly advancing to 

 the terminal point, blossom and fruit. This is the condi- 

 tion, for instance, of most of the perennial species of Aster, 

 Solidago, Achillea, Tanacetum, Mentha, Lysimachia, Hy- 

 pericum, Epilobium, Lythrum, &c. ; Oxalis stricta and 

 Solatium tuberosum also belong here, in which the parent 

 stem dies entirely away, and only the ends of the runners live 

 over the winter as the foundations of a new, more vigor- 

 ous generation. It is well known that the potato raised 

 from seed does not usually flower, or only exceptionally. 

 Perhaps, however, Physalis Alkekengi affords one of the 

 best examples of this kind. Between the stalked, broadly 

 lanceolate cotyledons of this plant, spreading out above 

 ground, rises in germination a stem about a span high, 

 with twelve or thirteen (euphyllary) leaves, increasing in 

 size upwards, and when winter approaches this stem dies 

 down without having flowered. In the axils of the 

 cotyledons and the succeeding leaves standing close 

 down to the earth, in the course of the summer, while 

 the sterile main sprout is being developed further up- 

 wards, arise buds, which, scarcely a line long, turn their 

 points at once obliquely downwards, arid subsequently, 

 becoming more and more elongated, penetrate almost 

 perpendicularly into the earth. They are clothed with 

 distant, clasping, apiculated, cataphyllary leaves, bent 

 inwards like a cap at the tips, and these are reddish 

 above ground, whitish beneath. The uppermost of these 

 sprouts penetrating into the earth and laying the founda- 

 tion of the more vigorous and fertile generation of the 

 second year, begin again with small, dwarfed, euphyllary 



