190 The Vegetable Individual in its relation to Species. 
inclined to malformations than the lusty giants of the rich soils. 
Not unfrequently we find diminutive speciments of Hrythrea 
pulchella s, ramosissima which are branchless and perfectly sim- 
ple, as they terminate with a flower after four or five pairs 0 
leaves. More vigorous specimens produce two branches out of 
the axils of the highest pair of leaves, which after a single pair of 
leaves terminate in the same manner with a flower ; and branches 
of the second order may be also emitted from the axils of the two 
leaves preceding this flower; and so on. In the first order of ram- 
ification the number of flowers amounts to three, in the second 
to seven, and so on; in the seventh, which is not unfrequently at- 
tained, it amounts to 127! Here, if we would consider the stock 
or specimen as the individual, and the flower as the superior 
termination of the vegetable organism, comparable, say, to the 
head of the animal, this variation in the number of the flowers 
would be as astounding as if we were to learn that an animal 
might have 3, 7, 15, 31, 73, or 127 heads, according to circum- 
stances. ‘The same thing occurs in Radiola linoldes. Erigeron 
Canadensis, which often grows to the height of a man and bears 
"as many branches as a tree, presents dwarfed specimens scarcely 
two inches high and of a perfectly simple form.* After devel- 
oping two early deciduous cotyledons it presents about 13 leaves 
on the stem, which are followed by a terminal capitulum of 21 
involucral bracts and about 34 flowers. One middle-sized speci- 
men about three feet high presented nearly 100 branches of the 
first order, out of which branches of the succeeding orders pro- 
ceeded, together bearing about 2000 heads, and hence (reckoning 
the head at 34 flowers) 68000 flowers.+ 
I may here remark, that such unessential branches may be sep- 
arated and reared independent of their parent stem; on which fact 
depends propagation by artificial divisions, which is so variously 
employed in horticulture. The most remarkable case of this artifi- 
cial division is recorded by Miller: in the year 1766-67, he ob- 
tained 500 stocks of winter Rye, by dividing one stock and re- 
peating the operation three times; these 500 stocks emitted 
21,109 spikes, bearing together 576,840 grains. Nature herself, 
as well as art, in various ways may effect such an independent 
Strawberry by its runners; o 
th eG 
tuberosus by their tubers; of bulbous plants by their bulbs; of the 4 
* Not counting the florets, which also are properly so many branches. 
Similar cases occur in most annuals. The forms o j 
with simple spikelets instead of rich panicles, are well-known; less known and less 
remarkable are the depauperate specimens of Umbellifere with one single unifloral 
me of which of Scandix Pecten are in my possession, I have also spect 
mens i i 
Solanum nigrum, one and a half inches high, with a solitary terminal flowe- 4 
