13 
The remainder of the plumule grows upwards and forms the 
first epigeous axis, upon which there soon appear the scale-leaves 
characteristic of such shoots (Plate LIII, Figs. 12 and 13). These 
scale-leaves arise close to the apex, two or more being always 
present as a protecting cap upon it (Plate LIII, Fig. 6). At first 
they appear almost opposite, but as the stem elongates they 
become separated by relatively long internodes, and assume 
their normal position in 4 spiral. They differ from the basal 
kataphylls in not being amplexicaul and in having much smaller 
axillary buds which often remain undeveloped in the lower part 
of the shoot, but in the upper produce lateral branches bearing. 
cladodes, or even cladodes directly, but never shoots resembling 
the parent axis (Plate LIV, Fig. 16). 
The opinion of certain writers already alluded to, that the 
single sheathing kataphyll, which had been observed in advanced 
seedlings of A. officinalis, should be regarded as a second cotyledon 
because it arose at the base of the primary axis immediately 
opposite and at the same level as the cotyledon, falls to the 
ground for two reasons. Firstly, as has been shown, it is only 
after the commencement of germination that the development 
of this leaf takes place ; there is absolutely no trace of it before 
that time. It cannot, to my mind, be regarded as the homologue 
of an organ belonging essentially to the embryonic phase of the 
plant’s life, especially when what has been already stated regarding 
the influence of adult structure upon the state of differentiation 
of the plumule before germination is recalled. Secondly, since 
we now know that some Asfaragi have two quite similar kata- 
phylls occupying side by side the same position as the single 
one of A. officinalis does ; and since there is no difference what- 
ever in their mode of origin and subsequent behaviour, we must 
give up the claims of both, or be prepared to gift certain species 
with no less than three cotyledons. 
Some even of the earliest investigators, such as Mirbel (1) 
and Braun (2), seem to have thought that the study of Asparagus 
seedlings helped to settle that vexed question, the homology of 
the cotyledon. If the secondary and all subsequent axes bore 
two sheathing basal scale-leaves, while the primary one—at 
the base of which is attached the cotyledon—had but one, did 
not this go to support the view that the cotyledon was the first 
leaf of the stem below which it arose ? It would thus correspond 
to the first of the pair of leaves of the succeeding axes, and could 
be called quite correctly a “‘ seed-leaf.’’ This idea is of course 
no longer tenable when it is known that in such species as A. 
plumosus and A. medeoloides the shoot derived from the plumule, 
as well as those which follow possess a similar pair of these 
kataphylls. 
