24:4: T. Holm — Anemonella thalictroides. 



this and other genera to future students, who might have access 

 to suitable and more ample material of the family. 



We have already described the seedling of Anemonella* 

 and from this will be seen that the cotyledons are epigeic, and 

 that the hypocotyl may not be developed ; since then we have 

 noticed, however, that a hypocotyl is most frequently present, 

 and not so very short either. The primary root does not per- 

 sist for more than about one season, and becomes replaced by 

 secondary roots, all of which become tuberous at the base, but 

 not until during the fall ; they die off during the next spring, 

 when new ones become developed. A rhizome of the mature 

 plant may be seen in the accompanying figure 1, which was 

 collected in the month of April. In this specimen there is an 

 old, shrivelled root from the previous year (r), and several 

 tuberous, which are active ; besides these there is, furthermore, 

 a slender secondary root (II), which will become tuberous dur- 

 ing the fall. Characteristic of these roots is that only the base 

 is tuberous, while the apex is very long, filiform and amply 

 ramified. Sometimes these roots become branched from the 

 tuberous base, as illustrated in figure 2 ; in one of these the 

 tuberous portion is four-cleft, each division being terminated 

 by a long, filiform apex. 



The very slender stem bears two sessile, involucral leaves, 

 which are opposite and trifoliolate ; the inflorescence is a cyme 

 with one central and two or a few more lateral flowers. Of 

 these the terminal is often larger than the others, and has 

 generally a larger number of sepals, from six to nine, while 

 the lateral flowers very often have only five. The achenium 

 has eight very strong ribs (figures 3 and 4), and contains a sin- 

 gle pendulous ovule with two integuments. 



Our plant is vernal, and one of the earliest to bloom; it 

 inhabits open, especially deciduous woods along the Atlantic 

 coast from Canada (Ontario) to Florida, westward to Minne- 

 sota. It is generally associated with Luzula campestris, 

 Houstonia eoerulea, Hypoxis erecta, etc. 



The Internal Structure of the Vegetative Organs. 

 The roots. 



As stated in the preceding pages, the roots of Anemonella 

 are tuberous, when fully developed. But when we examine 

 fruiting specimens, we always notice that besides the tuberous 

 there may be a few others which are slender in their entire 

 length. These are young and develop from the very short 

 rhizome, a little above the tuberous. The function of these 

 slender roots, however, is also to store nutritive matters, and 

 their increase in thickness commences at a very early stage, 

 *Mem. Torr. Bot, Club, vol. ii, No. 3, p. 57, 1891. 



