METAMORPHOSIS 



59 



buds, leaves, stipules, or other morphological units. 

 They are connected with the deeper parts of the 

 members of the plant body from which they spring, 

 and hence they are difficult to remove without injury 

 to the plant. In Wood-apple or bael (see fig. 41), 

 kath-bael {Feronia), bengchi or bench {Flacourtia 

 septaria), nebu {Citrus), and in bagan-bilas {Bougain- 

 villea) the spines are modified leaf-buds. In kantali- 

 champa the recurved spines are modified peduncles 

 or flower -buds, and the straight 

 spines are terminal buds of stunted 

 branches. In Rangoon Creeper 

 {Quisqualis malabarica, a common 

 garden climber) the leaves when 

 mature shed their blades, leaving the 

 petioles as spines. In kul, teshira- 

 monsha, monsha, and babla the 

 spines are modified stipules. In 

 nag-phani (see fig. 26) the spines 

 surrounded by short bristles 

 probably modified leaves. 



The stems of pani-ala or pani 

 amrha {Flacourtia Cataphracta) (fig. 

 62) are beset with big compound spines in their lower 

 portion, the upper portion being free from them. 

 Many plants are similarly provided with spines over 

 the stem and leaves. These are outgrowths from the 

 subepidermal tissue, and are not referable to any par- 

 ticular member of the plant body, such as buds, 

 leaves, stipules. Besides the spines, many plants, 

 e.g. the Rose, are armed with prickles, which are epi- 

 dermal growths, and can therefore be easily separated 

 without injury to the parts on which they grow; or 

 armed with glandular hairs, which are also epi- 

 dermal growths, as in lal-bharenda or sayambara 



are 



Fig. 6z. — Pani-ala or 

 Pani-amrha {Flacourtia 

 Cataphracta) 



