38 THE PHENOMENON OF 



character, through forming roots of their own, and sooner 

 or later become detached from the parent " stock," thus 

 presenting themselves as increase-sprouts or layers. 



All these modifications in which the inessential 

 sprouts occur, agree in the circumstance that they re- 

 present, in greater or less extension, only repetitions of 

 that which the plant possesses in its essential sprouts. 

 They lie outside the straight line towards the flower and 

 fruit, being interposed laterally, at various heights, as ines- 

 sential lines of repetition. In many cases the presence 

 or absence of such repetition-sprouts, appears, usually, 

 as something accidental and indifferent to the plant, as 

 for instance, when the tulip stem acquires a branch with 

 a lateral flower. In general, however, these repetition- 

 sprouts are of more importance, and are more necessary to 

 the plant than might appear, so that they must be regarded 

 as in certain respects essential, thus, namely, in reference 

 to the characterisation aiid also to the economy of plants. 



That the repetition-sprouts are characteristic, is exr 

 pressed generally by their influence on the " habit" of 

 plants, on the architectural design of the " stock," whether 

 as a whole, or in its separate parts, as in the inflorescence 

 especially. Entering more into particulars we find 

 characteristic features in the arrangement and direction 

 of the branches, in the frequently peculiar arrangements 

 of the leaves and rudimentary traces of such arrangements 

 on the branches, in the laws of curvature of the lines of ar- 

 rangement of the leaveson rudimentary branches, especially 

 in the laws of antidromy occurring on the branches placed 

 symmetrically opposite to each other, in the relations of the 

 subtending leaves to the branches, particularly the con- 

 ditions of fusion of the two, &c. A multiphcity of good 

 and important characters would be altogether lost if the 

 inessential branches were removed ; nay even the mere 

 presence or absence of certain modifications of them, as 

 of subterranean or above-gi'ound bulbels,* stolons,t 



^ Thus in the genus Suxifnu/a ; in S. r/rcumlata, and S. bidbifem. 

 t See the genera Cure.r, EpUohUim, llicracium, Vcdcrhina, Hula. 



