330 ON SEEDLINGS 



Gesnera macrantha, Spr. 



Primary root slender, terete, apparently branching little if at 

 all, and soon superseded by strong branching lateral rootlets abun- 

 dantly furnished with root-hairs, all orange-red. 



Hypocotyl short, globose, fleshy, pale reddish, increasing 

 rapidly, and losing its epidermis which becomes rent into longitu- 

 dinal stripes, 2-4'5 mm. in diameter sixty-six days after sowing the 

 seed, forming the persistent rootstock of the plant. 



Cotyledons very small, broadly ovate or triangular, obtuse, 

 entire, petiolate, glandular-pubescent on both surfaces, and ciliate, 

 pale green with a midrib discernible at the base only by transmitted 

 light ; lamina suddenly narrowed into the petiole, apex obtuse, 2*25- 

 2-5 mm. long and the same in width ; petiole about 1-1-25 mm. long. 



Stem herbaceous, erect, terete, densely glandular-hairy, or 

 almost villous, dying down annually to the persistent tuberous root- 

 stock ; 1st internode '5-1 mm. long ; 2nd and 3rd similar. 



Leaves simple, cauline, opposite, exstipulate, petiolate, alter- 

 nately incurvinerved with the nerves more or less united at their 

 apex or forming intramarginal not very conspicuous reticulations, 

 softly hairy or villous especially on the upper surface with shaggy 

 whitish hairs ; petiole semiterete, channelled above, densely hairy 

 or villous with more or less glandular hairs. 



First pair of leaves small, broadly ovate or rotund-ovate, obtuse, 

 entire, with a midrib and a few alternate incurved nerves. 



Second pair much larger, oval or rotund-elliptic, obtuse, entire 

 or obsoletely crenate-dentate, with a more evident venation. 



Third pair cordate-ovate, obtuse, crenate. 



Streptocarpus Rexii, LindL, x S. lutea, C. B. Clarke (fig. 568). 



Primary root slender, tapering, with a few lateral rootlets. 



Hypocotyl extremely short and fleshy, merging into the root, or 

 hardly developed. 



Cotyledons small, rotund, shortly petiolate, subtruncate at the 

 base, apparently nerveless, light green, thinly hairy ; lamina about 

 1'5 mm. in diameter ; petiole 1 mm. long. 



One of these cotyledons afterwards becomes the first true leaf 

 and is very persistent, attaining a large size. The other one persists 

 for some months but never gets larger. 



The above is the usual origin of the first leaf, but seedlings 

 frequently occur having three cotyledons ; from one of which the 

 first leaf is produced apparently at right angles to the others 

 which soon cease to enlarge. 



Stem very short, fleshy, becoming swollen and tuberous, appear- 



