58 THE PALM- STEM: 



According to Meneghini's statements, the borders of 

 the leaves should here also separate so far, that the cica- 

 trix only surrounds of the stem; but I cannot give 

 the least confirmation to this statement. The borders 

 of the leaf overlap a little at the base ; this condition is 

 no longer visible on the cicatrix after the leaf has fallen, 

 for this appears simply encircling the stem. However, 

 this peculiarity is exhibited not merely by the young 

 stems, from which the leaves have newly fallen, but also 

 by old stems ; and, in particular, on a stem thirty-eight 

 centimeters in circumference, in the Tubingen Garden, 

 the leaf-scars are perfectly evident, and still exactly sur- 

 round the stem, although, from the great increase in 

 thickness, its rind presents many longitudinal fissures. 

 Consequently, observation of the surface of the stem, de- 

 cidedly does not confirm Meneghini's view as to the 

 alteration of the leaf of Aletris, and the subsequent 

 changes in Draccena ; and the matter might here have 

 been regarded as settled, but that the objection that in 

 other specimens than those which I have examined, the 

 conditions might exist such as my honoured friend has 

 described, rendered it to the purpose, to institute a more 

 minute examination of the changes which a stem would 

 necessarily undergo, the circumference of which became 

 more enlarged than the bases of the leaves, in the way 

 described, after its leaves were perfectly formed or had 

 fallen, since this examination will show that this process 

 cannot possibly present itself in stems with abbreviated 

 internodes. I have before me a portion of a stem of 

 Aletris fragrans 31 inches long ; at the upper end it is 

 10' 5 lines in diameter, at the lower 13 lines; the ex- 

 ternal, hard, fibrous layer is 1 line thick above, 2' 5 lines 

 thick below: there are upon it 57 leaf- scars, hence an 

 internode is, on an average, 6*5 lines long. The cica- 

 trices surround the stem, and are placed obliquely, in such 

 a way, that one part of each of them, corresponding to 

 the middle line of the leaf, is lower down than the oppo- 

 site part corresponding to the borders of the leaf; so that 



