1782 



TENNF.KSKK 



TERATOLOGY 



tion: English walnuts, paper-shell pecans, Paragon 

 chestnuts, and Japanese persimmons grafted on the 

 common persimmon. r # l. Watts. 



TEN-O'CLOCK. Ornithctjalum umbellatum. 



TEN-WEEKS STOCK. Matthiola incana, var. annua. 



TEOSINTE is an annual grass of immense value for 

 forage in the South. It is very much like maize in gen- 

 eral appearance and in the structure of the fls., but 

 differs in not forming an ear, the slender jointed spikes 

 being free from one another. By many botanists it is 

 considered the original form of maize. It is known to 

 h'tatnt luxurians, Dur., but is properly 



catalogue 



Euchlama Mexican 

 seeB.M. 6414, whei 

 urians. The plan 

 Agrost., IT. S. Dept 

 No. 102, from whicl 

 Teosinte prol 



hich 

 -d Euchlama lux- 

 Bull. 14. Div. of 

 Farmers' Bulletin 

 ints are here abstracted, 

 a greater bulk of fodder 



, and 



per acre than any other grass. At the Louisiana Experi- 

 ment Station it has yielded the enormous amount of 50 

 tons of green forage per acre; this crop was sold in the 

 field to dairymen for $2.50 a ton. The plant grows 8-12 

 ft. high and tillers freely, sending up 20-50 stalks from 

 the same root. One hundred stalks from one seed have 

 been recorded. It may be cut several times during the 

 season, but nearly as good results will be obtained from 

 a single cutting made before there is any 

 frost. The stalks are tender and there is 

 no waste in the fodder when dry or green. 

 One pound of seed to the acre, planted in 

 drills 3 ft. apart and thinned to a foot 

 apart in the drill, is recommended. Teo- 

 sinte is a native of the warmer portions 

 of Mexico and Central America. The 

 seed rarely matures north of southern 

 Florida. p Lamson Sckibner. 



TEPHROSIA (Greek, tepliros, ash-col- 

 ored, hoary; referring to the foliage). 

 Jjegumindsae. Tephrosia Virginiana is a 

 hardy perennial herb which grows 1-2 ft. 

 high, has many narrow, ashy gray leaflets 

 and fls. about as large as sweet peas, yel- 

 lowish white, marked with purple. The 

 plant grows in dry sandy soil over a wide 

 range in the U. S. and blossoms in June. The racemes 

 are terminal and may contain a dozen fls. each K-% in. 

 across. This species is offered by collectors of native 

 plants. In spite of the large size of the fls., the species 

 is not likely to become a garden favorite, as the colors 

 are not pronounced and the flowers are more or less 

 hidden amid the foliage. In some English works this 

 plant is sometimes rated as half-hardy. 



A much showier species is T. macrantfta , a Mexican 

 shrub 0-10 ft. high, which bears its large purple and 

 white fls. to the number of 75 in a diffuse panicle about 

 a foot long. It was collected by C. G. Pringle, but it is 

 doubtful whether the plant is in cultivation. It would 

 be a handsome addition to southern shrubberies. 



Tephrosia is a genus of uncertain limits and of small 

 horticultural value. For fuller accounts, see Gray's 

 Manual. B.B. 2:292. B. L. Robinson's revision of the 

 North American species in Bot. Gaz., Sept., 1899, pp. 

 193-202, and Miss Vail's revision of the North American 

 species of Cracca in Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 22:25, 26. 



Virginiana, Pers. Goat's Rue. Catgut. Wild 

 Sweet Pea. Hoary Pea. Silky-villous, erect, 1-2 ft. 

 high: lfts. 17-29, linear-oblong. June, July. Dry sandy 

 soil, New Eng. to Minn., south to Fla. and Mex. B.B. 

 2:292. — Roots long, slender and very tough. yj jj_ 



TERATOLOGY: that part of the biological sciences 

 which is concerned with unusual forms of the whole 

 body or any of its organs. These, by comparison with 

 the normal forms, are called malformations or mon- 

 strosities. Malformations among plants are due to a 

 disturbance of the ordinary course of the growth and 

 development of the organs. Such a derangement of 



function may be looked upon as disease. The mal- 

 formation may be occasioned by merely local disease, or 

 it may be a symptom of general disease. Malformations 

 may be brought about (a) by the direct influence of 

 external physical conditions; (6) by the action or 

 presence of some other organism — plant or animal; (c) 

 by the operation of unknown internal causes. The ex- 

 perimental study of the causes of malformations is 

 yet in its infancy, and in only a few cases can specific 

 explanations of their origin be given. Having once 

 occurred, malformations may be inherited and the form, 

 at first unusual, may be fixed by selection and become 

 characteristic of a race. Thus the cockscomb {Celosia 

 cristata) shows a hereditary and fixed fasciation; and 

 double flowers are so common as hardly to be esteemed 

 malformations. 



The distinction between malformation and variation 

 is very indefinite. On the one hand, the various forms 

 of root, stem, leaf and flower in cultivated plants are 

 extraordinary as compared with the wild types from 

 which they were derived, but having diverged from the 

 type by relatively small increments, they are not looked 

 upon as monstrosities. 

 Suddenness of appear- 

 ance, therefore, is 

 of the criteria of mal- 

 formation. Even with 

 this criterion it is quite 

 impossible to distin- 



fruit. 



guish between malformation and variation, except arbi- 

 trarily. When the difference between the ordinary and 

 unusual forms is very marked, and particularly when 

 the alteration gives rise to grotesque forms, having al- 

 tered functions, one speaks of malformation rather than 

 variation. Malformations have been found in all 

 groups of plants, though they are most noticeable in 

 the ferns and flowering plants. A very large number 

 have been recorded; Penzig {see below) has collected 

 data of monstrosities in more than 4,000 species, and 

 the list has been augmented since the publication of 

 his work. Classification of such numerous and diverse 

 phenomena is a most difficult task and involves an 

 extensive technical terminology. Here only a few of 

 the more important categories can be mentioned. 



1. Alteration in the Number and Size of Organs. 

 1. Pleiomery is the term applied to the increase in the 

 number of ieaf-like organs. The number of members 

 of a whorl may be increased ; or the number of whorls ; 

 or the number of distributed organs may become 

 greater than usual. Double flowers often show plei- 

 omery. Fig. 2003. Extra free pistils of the orange, 

 persisting even in the fruit, are shown in Fig. 2480. 

 More regular polycarpy appears occasionally in the 

 tomato, and constantly in the "two-story'' apples (St. 

 Valery). It is a fixed race character in the Washington 

 or Navel orange, in which it is associated with seed- 

 lessness. A similar example of polycarpy is shown at 

 Fig. 2481, in which the abnormal growth is an exten- 

 sion of the axis of growth with additional carpels. 



2. Abnormally profuse branching of the stem is often 

 produced by a fungous parasite. The branches are 

 usually irregular and more or less fasciate, producing 

 what is called "witch brooms." These are not uncom- 



