16 T. Holm — Studies in the Cyperaeece. 



The Graminece seem, however, to have attracted a good deal 

 more attention than the Cyperaeece, although their seedlings 

 agree in most respects. It is, now, interesting to see from the 

 literature how many and very diverse opinions have been 

 expressed by the morphologists in order to define the organs of 

 these seedlings ; and even if so eminent an anatomist as Van 

 Tieghem has tried to pacify the contesting parties by submit- 

 ting a most excellent and detailed account of the internal 

 structure of these germinating plantlets, it seems, neverthe- 

 less, that the morphological standpoint taken by Warming, in 

 adherence to the views expressed by Poiteau, Mirbel and 

 Turpin, may prove satisfactory to all concerned. 



The most important difference between the seedlings of 

 these two families consists in the presence of a very small 

 organ like a rudimentary leaf, which in some Graminece, but 

 not in all, is to be observed on the anterior face of the seed- 

 ling, and in alternation with the so-called scutellum. This 

 scale-like appendage had been observed and figured by Mal- 

 pighi as far back as the year 1675, and it has since that time 

 been repeatedly described and given a number of names, the 

 best known among these being the " lobule " of Mirbel, and 

 the " epiblaste " of Richard. While Poiteau, Mirbel and 

 Turpin considered this organ as an independent leaf or even 

 as a " second, but small cotyledon," the majority of the other 

 authors have only understood it as a part of the cotyledon. It 

 is strange, that the most modern and generally adopted idea is 

 now that of Gartner (1. c), who more than a hundred years 

 ago defined the scutellum as the median part of the cotyledon, 

 the epiblaste or lobule as an appendix to this, while the sheath- 

 ing leaf (Sh) should represent the ascending sheath of the 

 cotyledon, thus these three organs should all constitute the 

 cotyledon, and the first green leaf (I/) should then be the first 

 leaf of the plant next to the cotyledon. This rudimentary 

 organ, the epiblaste, is not known to exist in the Cyperaeece, 

 and we have therefore great difficulty in finding proofs for our 

 explanation, according to which the cotyledon and the sheath- 

 ing leaf should represent organs, independent of each other. 

 It will be seen from our drawings (figs. 1 and lb) that the 

 sheathing leaf (Sh) is situated just above and at the same side 

 of the axis as the cotyledon (C), indicating a leaf arrangement 

 as " uniseriate " which would be too unnatural to be acceptable. 

 But when we compare our I^uirena-seedlmgs, with similar 

 ones of GraminecB " with or without the epiblaste," the sug- 

 gestion arises that this little organ has been suppressed in the 

 Cyperaeece, as in a number of the Graminece. Seedlings of 

 grasses with a developed epiblaste show the same biseriate 

 arrangement of the leaves as we find later on in the mature 



