242 



and six stamens, angiospermous in the general structure of the 

 flower, and gymnospermous in the naked ovule and typical 

 "cone " flowers. 



Particular mention was made of the seedling, of which there 

 are two now growing at the New York Botanical Garden. In 

 germination the two ligulate cotyledons^ appear first above the soil, 

 followed by the two nepionic leaves at first erroneously supposed 

 to develop into the only two leaves that the plant ever has during 

 the conjectural one hundred years of its life, but this interpreta- 

 tion of the foliage was subsequently corrected in the Genera 

 Plantarum. Photographs were shown illustrating the two cotyle- 

 dons and also the position and character of the two nepionic 

 leaves. The latter, which will subsequently develop into the 

 long, tentacle-like leaves of the mature plant, are at first small 

 and linear, springing up directly between the cotyledons, which 

 they closely resemble, and at right angles to them. It was noted 

 that sometimes these leaves were pressed close together, and at 

 other times spread as far apart as possible ; that is, they were 

 prostrated on each side of the axis of the plant. From being 

 thus flattened out on the soil they would gradually become erect 

 and finally touch their inner surfaces together. In seeking an 

 explanation of this peculiarity several ideas suggested themselves, 

 the true one seeming to be that the movement of the leaves was 

 a direct response to the presence or absence of water. When 

 they were prostrate they were simply wilted, and it was the water 

 that made them stand erect. On account of the typically xero- 

 phytic aspect of even these seedling leaves one would not suspect 

 that they were wilted, there being no external evidence of any 

 loss of turgidity, except the change of position above described. 



E. L. Morris : Some recent species of Plantago. 



Plantago is the genus of plants containing our common plan- 

 tain. Probably these plants are by most people considered 

 nothing more than weeds, but in contrast to these as weeds, there 

 is a large group of species typically at home and indigenous in 

 the semi-arid regions of our West and Southwest. The species 

 were for a long time included under one name, a name which 

 was applied originally to the South American species found only 

 in Patagonia. 



