STUDIES OF LOCALIZED STAGES OF GROWTH 
IN SOME COMMON NEW ENGLAND 
PLANTS. 
JOSEPH A. CUSHMAN. 
In the following are given some of the stages in detail found 
in a few of our common plants, and some general notes which 
may be safely drawn, and which may be useful in studying 
plants from this point of view. The cases given are not 
chosen as particularly striking ones, but are such as would come 
naturally under the notice of anyone. In a following paper 
the writer hopes to present more striking examples from some 
of the less generally known plants now in the Botanic Gardens 
of Harvard University. The few given, however, will show 
the truth of the principle involved as well as more striking 
ones. 
In a paper by Robert T. Jackson, “ Localized Stages in 
Development of Plants and Animals," Memoirs Boston Society 
of Natural History, Vol. V, No. 4, 1899, this principle was 
worked out and applied to plants. It was there applied to 
shoots and various growths of trees almost exclusively. It is 
in the spirit of that paper that I have attempted this one, 
giving the results of my study of plants from this point of 
view. My thanks are due to Dr. Jackson for reading this in 
manuscript and for many suggestions. 
The new point intended to be brought out here is the appli- 
cation of the principle of localized stages to the early spring 
growth of herbaceous plants. These are adult plants, not 
young plants or seedlings. The principle is also applied to 
the stages immediately preceding the flower. 
The principle of localized stages in development, to quote 
from the above paper, is that, “throughout the life of the 
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