REJUVENESCENCE IN NATURE. 41 



the pyramidal panicle of the lilac {Syringd) or the phlox, 

 and, finally, the anthelce of Luzula and Ulmaria, rendered 

 so remarkable by the strong development of the lower 

 flower branches. But the essential lateral parts of the 

 spiked or racemose inflorescence may be developed to 

 most characteristic forms of the inflorescence, by inessen- 

 tial sprout-formation from the bracts [Vorbldtlef], e.g. to 

 the forked form, by the equilibrium of a homodromous 

 and antidromous sprout, to the screwed fonn by the pre- 

 dominance of the homodromous, to the scorpioid form by 

 the prevalence of the antidromous sprout. AH these 

 characteristic forms are produced by mere succession of 

 inessential generations, which proceed one out of the other 

 according to determinate laws, and are frequently inti- 

 mately chained together into apparently continuous axes 

 [sympodid) . 



Another side, on which the sprouts which have been 

 termed inessential in the foregoing, appear in a deep and 

 essential connection with the course of existence of the 

 plant, is their relation to the economy of vegetable life. 

 Formation of sprouts, generally, especially however the 

 formation of inessential sprouts retrograding to the lowest 

 stages of the metamorphosis, gives the plant the means of 

 attaching itself to the most varied conditions, of persisting 

 through periods of continued cold and heat, damp or 

 drought, according as the climate may produce, and 

 guarding against death in all cases of frustrated seed-for- 

 mation. Under the varied circumstances which may frus- 

 trate the fertilisation, under the readily possible prevention 

 of the formation of seed after fertilisation has taken place, 

 it is of importance, since the proper individual of the 

 plant (the simple sprout) can only once flower and ripen 

 seed, that the "stock" should have the capacity, by 

 another kind of propagation, namely, the formation of 

 sprouts, of repeating the blossoming and ripening, either 

 in the same period of vegetation, — whereby, for example, 

 in every many-flowered inflorescence, any temporary dis- 

 turbance loses its effect upon the whole through succcs- 



