508 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



the death and decay of that parent notwithstanding the vital union that previously- 

 existed between them. These in turn form buds and send up suckers, thus fur- 

 ther extending the group till joining with other similar groups an extensive break 

 or forest is formed. 



Examples of this are exceedingly numerous. This mode is often illustrated 

 by the peach, apple and basswood among trees; the elder, currant and goose- 

 berry among shrubs, and the balm, rhubarb and various grasses among her- 

 baceous plants. A similar or identical principle is involved in those cases in 

 which not only the parts about the base of the plant, but all parts of the roots, 

 even to their extremities, form buds and send up suckers, thus extending the area 

 occupied by the plant much more rapidly than in the preceding case. Of this 

 method the wild plum, murello cherry, and the blackberry and red-raspberry are 

 well known examples. Resembling this method in appearance is the multiplica- 

 tion of plants and the consequent growth of them a short space from the parent 

 plant, is that by means of the rhizoma or underground stem. Some plants send 

 out these stems laterly at a greater or less depth below the surface of the ground. 

 At frequent intervals, greater or less according to the species of plant, a node is 

 formed from which roots are emitted and a stem is sent up to the surface where 

 it forms a perfect, and, to all appearances, an independent plant. Not only does 

 this rhizoma continue to extend, sending up its numerous stems, but from each 

 of its nodes similar stems branch off, usually on both sides, which repeat the same 

 phenomena as the original one. In this way these stems and plants are multiplied 

 till the whole space occupied by this multiple plant becomes a regular net-work 

 of stems and the plants become so crowded as to smother the later comers that 

 are struggling to reach the light and air. A single plant of this nature will, in a 

 comparatively short time, occupy all the ground for a considerable distance in 

 all directions from the original plant. And if it be a perennial, this process will 

 continue from year to year, and there is really no limit to its extension except 

 such as may be presented by insurmountable obstacles that may bar its further 

 progress. As examples of this mode of propagation and dispersion may be men- 

 tioned the Canada-thistle, Chufa, Bermuda-grass and couch or quitch-grass. 



Tubers, as of the potato and artichoke, are only enlarged underground stems, 

 full of buds that we call eyes. From them the plants of the next season are pro- 

 duced a little distance from the stalk of the parent plant, and so the young plants 

 are gradually separated and dispersed. Similar in nature and manner of growth 

 to the underground creeping plants are those that send their creeping stems on 

 the surface of the soil, sending roots into the soil and stems into the air, and also 

 other creeping stems in lateral directions on the surface. Of this class may be 

 named the twin-flower, the partridge-berry, some species of mint and some of 

 the creeping grasses. 



Differing but little from this is the regular running plant that sends out a 

 slender stem that grows to some length without node or leaf; a cluster of leaves 

 is then formed, from the base of which roots enter the ground and thus a complete 



