SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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AN EXAMPLE OF ASCIDIA. 



By John T. 



\\ , T E have received from Mr. F. Holt, Park View 

 Nursery, Hollins Lane, Accrington, a 

 curious case of abnormal growth of a cabbage-leaf, 

 found on June 13th last. The midrib on the 

 underside, as will be seen from the drawing we 

 reproduce, has divided at about three-fourths its 

 length, and the lower portion formed itself into a 

 stalk of about three inches in length. At the end of 

 the stalk is a perfectly symmetrical funnel-shaped 

 cup, of material similar to the leaf-substance, but 

 somewhat thinner in texture. From the point of 

 division the "stalk" is pendant, the whole growth 

 forming an elegant deviation from the usually 

 inartistic shape of a cabbage-leaf. Dr. Maxwell 



Carrington. 



cabbage-leaf, which is figured on this page. These 

 cups are termed ascidia or pitchers, which are 

 formed from the cohesion of the margins of one or 

 more leaves. Dr. Masters refers in his work to 

 the investigation of the Belgian Professor, Charles 

 Morren, who divides these structures under two 

 heads, according as they are formed from one or 

 more leaves. The former are termed Monophyl- 

 lous and the latter Polyphyllous. In the first 

 group, Professor Morren gives a list of twenty- 

 eight species of plants in which monophyllous 

 ascidia occur. Instances of polyphyllous formation 

 are evidently less common, for in this division he 

 mentions but three species of plants ; Triphyllous, 



Abnormal Cabbage-Leaf. 



Tylden Masters, F.R.S., in his valuable work upon 

 Vegetable Teratology, published by the Ray 

 Society, in 1869, figures a similar instance on a 

 lettuce-leaf. It is a case of enation or supplemen- 

 tary outgrowth from another growth previously 

 formed. 



This monstrosity is not so rare as many people 

 may imagine, and it appears that the various 

 species and varieties of a cabbage family are 

 especially subject to enation. 



Dr. Masters groups it under " Formation of 

 Tubes" in a section of his book devoted to 

 deformities. In his figure the cup on the lettuce- 

 leaf is about the same shape as that on Mr. Holt's 



or formed by the union of three leaves, is only 

 instanced once, when it occurred on a leaf of Paris 

 quadrifolia. 



The case we figure on this page hardly comes 

 under the above grouping of varieties of ascidia 

 formed from the union of one or more leaves, but 

 seems to be the result of a peculiar excrescence or 

 hypertrophy of the leaf. Cases of this kind, according 

 to Dr. Masters, occur occasionally on the leaves of 

 cabbages, lettuces, aristolochia, etc. The term 

 hypertrophy serves as a general one to comprise all 

 the instances of excessive growth and increased size 

 of organs. Here it is intended to indicate more a 

 variation than a deformity. 



