54 



must have been carried by a bird over 80 miles, which to me^ 

 seems very improbable. 



I shall now ask attention to a j^eculiarity of growth. It is 

 always of the greatest importance that we should possess a 

 correct idea of the various organs which make up the whole- 

 plant, and this can only be obtained by a close study of the 

 function which they perform. But some have, as it would 

 seem, a double or triple place to fill in the economy of nature. 

 Thus, with regard to some of our Loramliece, they produce 

 roots both under and above the part of the tree upon which 

 they are living. These upper or aerial roots are rather 

 modifications of the stem, and would seem to take an inter- 

 mediate place between the creeping stem Sololes of Lindley, 

 and the Sarmentum of Fucbs and Linnaeus. This latter, as in 

 the case of the strawberry, sends out its prostrate thread-like 

 stems, which after stretching along the surface of the soil for 

 some distance forms a fresh plant at its extremity. The 

 soboles sends its creeping stem out in a horizontal direction, 

 "between the surface of the soil, and sends up new plants at 

 various intervals. Like this latter subterranean stem, the root- 

 like stems of some species of Lorantlius in Queensland run 

 along the surface of the bark of the tree upon which they are 

 living, and form plants at various intervals, this root-like stem 

 still extending, or perchance dipping below the surface of the 

 bark and ramifying as the true root of the plant. Thus, it 

 will be seen to resemble the soboles in mode of reproduction 

 and growth, and the sarmentum in j^ositiou, being aeriel 

 not subterranean. I will now draw attention to a plant where 

 a triple function seems to be performed by one organ. I 

 refer to the roots, or what have been supposed roots of the 

 small, leafless, epiphytical orchid, TcEniopliyllum MuelJerif 

 liindl. Having one day brought a small plant of this minute 

 and interesting orchid home with me from the scrub, I placed 

 it with the stick upon which it was growing in an empty fruit 

 bottle. In this position it has both flowered and fruited. 

 The fruit is an angular capsule -4 or 5 inches long, with a 

 short neck, and tapering towards the base, of a light green 

 color, and is the most conspicuous part of the plant. The 

 roots are of a very light color, almost white, and often more 

 than one foot long. On one of the roots of this plant I 

 have noticed a bud, formed at a part where there was a 

 slight indentation, caused, I should think, by a stoppage of 

 growth at some time. This bud is now forming a plant, 

 therefore the supposed root is in reality a stem, and perform- 

 ing the triple functions of a root, stem, and leaf. It will be 

 most interesting to watch the development of the much larger 

 leafless epiphyte Sarccchilus ])liyllorMzus, F. Muell., for in all 



