Monstrosities 409 



culata seems to promise similar results. On 

 the other hand I have sowed in vain the seeds of 

 twisted specimens of the soapwort and the 

 cleavewort (Saponaria officinalis and Galium 

 Aparine). These and some others seems to be- 

 long to the same group as the valerian and to 

 constitute only poor or so-called half -races. 



Next to the torsions come the fasciated 

 stems. This is one of the most common of all 

 malformations, and consists, in its ordinary 

 form, of a flat ribbon-like expansion of the stems 

 or branches. Below they are cylindrical, but 

 they gradually lose this form and assume a flat- 

 tened condition. Sometimes the rate of growth 

 is unequal on different portions or on the op- 

 posite sides of the ribbon, and curvatures are 

 produced and these often give to the fasciation 

 a form that might be compared with a shep- 

 herd's crook. It is a common thing for fas- 

 ciated branches and stems to divide at the 

 summit into a number of subdivisions, and ordi- 

 narily this splitting occurs in the lower part, 

 sometimes dividing the entire fasciated portion. 

 In biennial species the rosette of the root-leaves 

 of the first year may become changed by the 

 monstrosity, the heart stretching in a transverse 

 direction so as to become linear. In the next 

 year this line becomes the base from which the 

 stem grows. In such cases the fasciated stems 



