182 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [ seprenset 
The roots of Erythronium albidum and E. mesachoreum, Lilium 
superbum, and Medeola Virginiana have only a nutritive function 
They are of no great importance in fixing the plant in the earth, 
nor do they exert any strain upon the parts from which they 
Start, nor do they store any considerable quantity of reserit 
material. In contradistinction to those of Arisaema, Spathyema 
Trilltum, and Hypoxis, we find in these roots but little cortical 
parenchyma, no compressed cortical cell layers, no wrinkling 0! 
the root surface, and a total absence of wavy foldings in the 
longitudinal walls of their endodermis and exodermis. The spe 
cies of Erythronium, Lilium, and Medeola above mentioned at 
representatives of a type of geophilous plants in which the 
rhizome, by its manner of growth, seeks and keeps a certaa 
depth in the ground, without any help of the roots. Deda 
bulbifera 1.., Paris quadrifolia L.., Colchicum autumnale L., One 
mascula L.,and Platanthera montana Reichb. f. are species which 
belong to the same type. 
IIl, 3 : 
Many perennial herbs develop a long tap root, which bere 
more or less thick and fleshy, and filled with reserys mab “ae 
To this group belong the following species: Kuhma eee 
des L., Lacinaria punctata (Hook.) Kuntze, Grindelia square 3 
(Pursh) Dunal, Nothocaleis cuspidata (Pursh) Greene, Kuhns 
candida (Willd.) Kuntze, K. purpurea (Vent.) MacM., / 
esculenta Pursh, Astragalus crassicarpus Nutt., Peucedanum | 
laceum Nutt., Callirrhoé alceoides (Michx.) A. Gray; eg 
Carolinianum Walt., Aquilegia Canadensis L., Asclepias pe | 
Lithospermum angustifolium Michx., Physalis longifolia 5s _ a 
Allionia nyctaginea Michx. a 
In many of these plants the contractility of the roo! 
important feature. I have noted this phenomenon - 
nyctaginea. In seedlings of this plant it can be obser 
that the base of the cotyledons, which at the be 
itself above the ground, after some weeks disappea 
_ Surface of the earth. That this is really due to the © 
pot the root I satisfied myself by marking the as 
