SUGAR 139 



and the white bloom. On examination this zone is found 

 to be pubescent; there are a set of minute hairs which 

 probably prevent the deposition of wax. I have termed 

 this zone the scar-band, and it is characteristic of the 

 Chin group. In most cases, however, the bloom passes 

 right up to the leaf-scar, which is then completely devoid 

 of hairs and dark coloured. In the Rheora group this 

 darkening in the region of the leaf-scar is very marked, 

 and a series of dark brown lines is seen drawn across 

 the stem at the nodes; these lines I have termed scar-lines. 

 There appears to be some correlation between the circlet 

 of hairs and the scar-band; the two are usually found in 

 company, and where there is a circlet the scar-line is not 

 often sharp or distinct. 



I have dealt rather fully with the leaf-scar, perhaps, and 

 do not propose to develop the characters of the other 

 parts of the joint excepting the bud, merely stating that 

 some of them are quite as marked as those mentioned 

 above. I wish, however, to emphasize the fact that, here 

 as elsewhere, the differences are often extremely minute, 

 and it is a source of wonderment to me that they are so 

 constant. Nothing of the kind, I take it, would be found 

 in any series of plants raised from seed. 



The joint as a whole also varies in almost every con- 

 ceivable direction : thickness, shape, ovalness, colour, 

 hardness; the whole cane varies as to the number of 

 joints, their arrangement, the thickness or length of the 

 joints in different parts, top, middle, bottom, and so 

 forth, and the study of these characters connotes an 

 infinity of detailed observation. 



The Bud. Of all the parts of the sugar-cane plant, 

 perhaps the bud is likely to be of most use from a 

 systematic point of view. One is deprived in this plant 

 of the natural resource of the taxonomist, the flower, 

 although, from observations as have thus far been 

 possible, it appears to be certain that the different canes 

 vary both in the form of their inflorescence and the 

 relative development of their male and female parts. 

 Flowering is rare in the sugar-cane, and we are forced 

 to turn our attention to the much less striking variations 

 in the vegetative organs. The bud contains, so to speak, 



