55 
into a young root. Fig. 12 is an illustration of this..At B/ one 
sees a young flower-bud and at w a root proceeding from the 
topmost bract. Though this phenomenon occurred a few times 
on the living plants in my garden (the specimen illustrated was 
among the material collected by Miss Renvaan), the number 
of cases was too small for me to ascertain whether the growing- 
apex of the flower-stalk had really been transformed directly 
into a root. But probable it certainly is. 
Now the conversion of a stem into a root has so far been 
hardly ever observed. Bryerinck ') perceived the phenomenon 
in cutlings of Rumex acetosella; Gorse”) however pronounces” 
Bryrrincx’s communication to be insufficiently substantiated. 
But in this species of Taeniophyllum the process is clearly dis- 
cernible, subject to the reservation that it is not quite certain 
whether the root has sprung directly from the growing-apex. 
The roots grow in the usual manner on the bark, after the 
flower-stalk had been applied to it, and new plants will pro- 
bably develop again from these. It is however unlikely that 
this manner of propagation should contribute to the multipli- 
cation of the plant. 
The phenomenon of a root being converted into a stem is 
better known, but still it remains rare, so that this species of 
Yaeniophyllum is a fresh example of this formation. GoxrBELs 
work contains a list of the cases that are known. Known also 
is the conversion of a root into a gemma in ferns and Mono- | 
cotyls. Of the Monocotyls they are a couple of terrestrial orchids, 
viz. Listera cordata and Neottia Nidus avis, in which gemmae 
on the roots have been described by Brunpin and Warminc *). 
The same property is further mentioned by Gorsri about 
one Araceous plant: Anthurium a : 
neta 
1) M. W. Beyerince. Beobachtungen und Betrachtungen fiber Warzelkaospen oo 
und Nebenwurzeln. Amsterdam, 1886, p. 41. ae 
2) K. Goenkt. Organographie der Pflanzen, Jena, 1898, eo 44A. 
3) K. GoeEnEL, loc. cit., . og 
