INDUCTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND HERITABILITY OF FASCIATIONS. 11 



The extensive experiments of de Vries, which have led him to consider 

 certain fasciations hereditary to some extent, made it desirable to test its 

 inheritability in these cultures. Pure seed was saved in 1905 from fasciatcd 

 plants of O. rntciata, and of (). initricata from Kansas. The O. critciata 

 came from material originally collected by Mr. S. H. Burnham at Lake 

 George, New York, in 1903. Of his 15 plants, 7 afterward fasciatcd in the 

 main stem, and 3 of them when thrown produced "curious elbow-shaped 

 structures" on the stems. These protuberances were variants of those 

 which appeared in the later cultures. Pure seed from the fasciated indi- 

 viduals was sown in 1904, and 5 plants saved out. These fasciated in the 

 main and side branches, and from them pure seed was sown in February, 

 1906, and 57 plants saved out. In September, 1906, counting the main 

 stems only, 5 of these were stunted and 2 normal; there were 30 fasciations 

 and bifurcations associated with protuberances, 12 simple bandings, 3 un- 

 flattened bifurcations, and 5 rinjy-fasciations. In the normal stock plants 

 there were in one j^roup of 3 individuals, 1 rinjj and 2 bandings; in another 

 of 4 plants, 2 protuberances, 1 bifurcation, and 1 simple fasciation; a third, 

 of 4 individuals, contained some fasciated side-branches on each plant. The 

 seed of the O. " initricata" was sent by Mr. H. F. Roberts from Manhattan, 

 Kansas, in 1904. The first sowing was made in November, 1904. Although 

 distributed as " niitricala, " it proved to be an elementary species removed 

 from the nntricata type. Two out of the three plants saved fasciated in the 

 rosette sta.ye and bloomed in the summer of 1905. From one of these 

 pure seed was saved and sown in February, 1906. In September, 1906, 

 out of 43 plants, 26 individuals were fasciated, 3 stunted, 2 bifurcated, and 

 12 apparently normal. Counting only the flattened tips, 60 per cent were 

 fasciated. In the 3 control plants from unfasciated stock, 2 were faseiated 

 and 1 stunted. The control in each ease fasciated as readily as did the 

 fasciation cultures. 



Aside from the scries which were run as special tests there were num- 

 erous examples of faseiation in Dr. MacDous'al's general collection. In 

 1905 fasciation was found in 55 individuals, including O. lamarckiana, O. 

 muricata, O. biennis, O. oakcsiana, O. strigosa, O.gigas, O. nanclla, O. grandi- 

 flora, O. lamarckiana X O. biennis, and O. critciata, besides many forms of 

 doubtful identity. In 1906 it appeared in 86 individuals, representing 34 

 different cultures and a correspondingly wide ran.ufe of species. Next to 

 O. critciata, O. parvijlora fasciated most abundantly. The plants were in 

 four different lots from Maine and in one lot from Madrid. All of the 

 individuals fasciated in 50 per cent of their branches. Of the O. grandi- 

 flora from Alabama, 14 plants were faseiated. In the O. aiio/>/iila all 5 

 plants were fasciated in main and side branches. In one roup of 4 plants 

 of O. lamarckiana, from a parent raised after a succession of pure cultures 

 from seed originally sent from de Vries in 1901, all 4 plants were fasciated 

 in the main stems. The anomaly can scarcely be considered hereditary in 



