﻿76 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [january 



Fasciation in the sweet potato is the subject of a paper by Conard/^ 

 who gives observations on the frequency of occurrence and the form and his- 

 tology of the formation in its usual type as well as in the interesting condition 

 known as "ring-fasciation/' Besides the description of his own material, he 

 refers quite extensively to other forms and to the literature — a virtue in 

 which so many of the teratological papers are sadly deficient. 



Carleton E. Preston (Amer. Nat. 36 : 727-734. t?;^'^. 10. 1902) con- 

 siders the foliage of Acacia and finds considerable variation in the forms of 

 the pinnate leaves. In the production of the phyllodia he found some forms 

 which, while they may be mere anomalies, might seem to indicate that this 

 organ may not be entirely petiolar in nature, the rachis as well as the petiole 

 being concerned in its formation, and the pinnae dropping from the base or 

 the tip of the central axis. — Penzig {Joe, cit,) describes and figures among 

 others an abnormality in the flower of Gladiolus segetiim. The abnormal 

 example shows a perianth of nine instead of six parts, four instead of three 

 stamens, and a five-parted stigma with an ovary of five carpels instead of the 

 usual number. — Copeland (Bot. Gaz. 34 : 142-144. figs, 5. 1902) describes 

 and figures abnormal forms of Asplenzum pinnatifidum Nutt. and Polypodtum 

 vulgare L. found on the Laurel ridge in northern West Virginia, and suggests 

 that, while they are not necessarily any support for the theory of De Vries 

 as to the origin of new species, the value of the study of such freaks as these 

 in connection with the questions De Vries has raised is self-assertive. 

 EiCHLER (Jahreshefte der Ver. vaterl. Naturk. in Wiirttemberg 58 : LXXI- 

 LXXII. 1902) gives some brief notes of a teratological nature and also 

 some suggestions on xenia and double fertilization, — Perrot (Bull. Soc. 

 Bot. France 49 : 163-166. figs, 6. 1902) publishes observations on the general 

 form and histological structure of excrescences found on the ventral surface 

 of leaves of Aristolochia Sipho, and suggests that the excrescences are the 

 result of an effort to increase the transpiration surface. The formations 

 clearly belong to those occurring in various species of plants which have 

 been designated as *' seam-like*' outgrowths. No reference is made to the 

 literature. The formation has been described for this species by a half- 

 dozen or more writers, — Camus figures and very briefly describes (Bull. Soc. , 

 Bot. France 49 : 70-71. pL i. 1902) monstrosities in Salix hippophaefolia 

 Thuill. caused by Ceidomya rosaria H. Lev. — Prolification in the pear, 

 where it has frequently been described, is noted and figured in the Lyon Hor- 

 ticole (24:81-85. 1902), and prolification of the fruit of Capsicum, a very 

 common occurrence and one which has been three or four times treated in 

 the literature, is figured in a later number of the same journal (24 : 382-385. 



1902). — J. Arthur Harris. 



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^CoNARD, H. S., Fasciation in the sweet potato. Contrib. Bot. Lab. Univ. Fenn. 

 2:205-215. pL ig. 1902. 



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