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pliant and more or less pendulous; in clay-desert species 
on the contrary they are generally stiff and short. 
The year-shoots are branched except in a very few cases 
(Halimodendron, Reaumuria oxiana). Branched year-shoots 
are thus the rule, and non-branching the exception. A similar 
case has, to my knowledge, never been pointed out for any 
community of Fanerophytes. 
WARMING (1892, pp. 408, 252) and after him MALME have 
drawn attention to a number of South American species with 
branched year-shoots. RACIBORSKI also gives illustrations of 
several species of this kind, but without recording this 
characteristic. These species are mostly forest-plants, but 
some belong to the Savannas (MALME). MALME regards the 
branched year-shoot as a primitive character in dicotyledonous 
trees, non-branching on the contrary being a secondary fea- 
ture acquired in the course of time. However this condition 
in the case of the broad-leaved South American plants is of 
less interest to us than the branch system in other Fanero- 
phytes poor in leaves or leafless. This condition is certainly 
worthy of special study although in the literature I have only 
found occasional references to it. 
In many cases the year-shoot branches are annual 
assimilating shoots, more rarely they are continuation shoots 
which take part in the extension of branches. No definite 
limit can be drawn however between the two. The assimi- 
lating branches have been described in many of the species 
mentioned (e. g. Eremosparton, Calligonum, Tamarix, Astra- 
galus, Salsola etc.); biologically they play the part of leaves. 
Assimilating branches in many species are not confined 
to the last year-shoot, but also occur on older branches. In such 
cases they arise on the exterior side of lateral branches, or where 
such ones have previously been, and often several together. Thus 
the characteristic tufts of branches originate, which likewise 
distinguish so many of the trees and shrubs of the desert; 
they have been described and illustrated in the case of several 
species (e. g. Eremosparton, Calligonum, Smirnowia). Similar 
conditions are also found in Spartium, Carmichaelia, and others. 
A further characteristic of the year-shoots is, that they 
do not as a rule persist throughout their whole length, but 
