20 Mr Hill, Note on seedlings of Peperomia. 



Note on some peculiar features in seedlings of Peperomia. By 

 Mr A. W. Hill. 



[Read 28 November 1904.] 



The seedlings of Peperomia umbilicata were found in the 

 Andes of Bolivia at about 13,500 feet above sea-level. The species 

 is a geophilous one with small bulbs arid peltate leaves. 



The peculiarity of the seedlings lies in the fact that, though 

 they are dicotyledonous in structure, only one of the two cotyle- 

 dons leaves the seed to exercise the functions of an assimilating 

 organ ; the other remains permanently in the seed as an absorbent 

 organ. 



The other bulbous species from the Andes apparently shew the 

 same features of germination, and several other species from Central 

 America, preserved in the Herbaria of Kew and South Kensington, 

 whilst differing in their vegetative habits, shew a similar type of 

 germination. 



