940 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 129. 



can be said, that when apparently fixed 

 species of alpines are transferred to botanic 

 gardens, and cultivated for many years, 

 neither they nor their seed progeny seem to 

 vary appreciably, though it must be granted 

 that a critical comparison has yet to be 

 made. But the comparison which Bonnier 

 has made* between alpines gathered on 

 the Pyrenees, on Jan Mayen and on Spitz- 

 bergen, causes us to expect decided differ- 

 ences. 



(6) Parasitic and saprophytic plants. Vol- 

 umes might be written in favor of the posi- 

 tion that these are alone explicable in terms 

 of their environment. If the Weismannian 

 is in straights oyer the origin of species 

 amongst the sexless Fungi, more inexplica- 

 ble seem the sexually perfect flowering para- 

 sites. The highly modified and recent or- 

 der ScrophulariacecB deserves consideration 

 on this continent. To return to the Gerar- 

 dias that are all more or less pronounced 

 root parasites, such a finely connected series 

 of species as G. fasciculata, G. purpurea, 

 G. paupercula and G. aphylla show gradual 

 degradation of the assimilatory organs, 

 as we pass from the Northern to the South- 

 ern States. Eoot, stem and leaf alike all co- 

 operate in the degradation changes. That 

 their floral leaves undergo like reduction 

 suggests a certain rythmic response of the 

 entire organism to altered conditions, and if 

 we pursue our study to those degraded 

 types Epiphegus, Conopholis and Orobanche 

 we see how perfect this response may be. 

 But comparison of Beech Drops (Epiphegus) 

 over a pretty wide area of country will af- 

 ford proof that few plants are more variable, 

 and also that in any one locality the ac- 

 quired variations are reproduced by this 

 strictly annual species. 



(7) Fasciated plants. It is now nearly 

 nine years since a botanical friend gathered 

 a wild, fasciated plant of Polemonium emru- 

 leum in north Scotland. Its usually slender 



* Eev. gen. de Eotanique, Vol. 6, 1894. 



cylindrical stem was flattened out to a 

 width of about 1 J inches, and from it started 

 a wealth of branches in the axils of the 

 numerous leaves. The plant grew and 

 seeded. Some seeds were retained by him; 

 others were given to the Edinburgh Botanic 

 Garden. From both a considerable pro- 

 portion of fasciated plants developed. It 

 may at once be objected here that such a 

 teratological state was congenital in the 

 parent plant, but, even granting this for the 

 moment, there seemed strong evidence for 

 its inheritance by the offspring. Long ex- 

 perience in north-central Europe is that 

 fasciation is of rare occurrence. Along our 

 eastern sea-board, especially on sandy soil, 

 with moist substratum, it is frequent. In a 

 single New Jersey meadow 31 specimens of 

 the bulbous Buttercup were gathered by 

 my student party fully four years ago, and 

 prolonged search would have given us more. 

 But an inspection of New Jersey sweet 

 potatoes in the end of September will reveal 

 that from most plants five to eight long 

 shoots radiate outward 20-25 feet. Some 

 are uniform, cylindrical and slender 

 throughout, but half or more of them begin 

 to flatten almost imperceptibly about 5-8 

 feet from the root region, and are the width 

 of one's hand by the end of a season's 

 growth. They need no further mention, 

 since with us the sweet potato is reproduced 

 by the tuber. But study of such lists as 

 are given in Moquin-Tandon's and Mas- 

 ters' works on plant teratology indicates 

 that plants which, occasionally at least, 

 grow on light soil are those in which such 

 variations occur. De Vries' valuable paper* 

 on the hereditary transmission of fas- 

 ciation is scientific proof of what every 

 gardener knows to be true. Our now 

 greatly appreciated garden cockscombs, 

 are just monstrous fasciations of the wild 

 Celosia cristata, that has a bushy habit, 

 cylindrical stem, numerous leaves, thin 

 *Botaiiisch Jaarbok, 1894. 



