THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVII. 



width moves toward the proximal end, the number of dentations 

 decreases until in Fig. 36 there are but three on each side and 

 in Fig. 37 there are but two, in form very much like Fig. 21, 

 the second leaf of early growth from the ground. Its base is 

 auricled like the seedling and early growth from the ground and 

 the upper part is like the growth from old shoots. 



Poterium canadensis A. Gray. Figs. 



Early in the spring seedlings of this plant we 

 the adult. They were taken up and grown in 

 pots in order to study variation in the first 

 leaves. The seedling, Fig. 38, develops as 

 follows : the cotyledons are broadly oval, 



• 1 ibtaincd about 



nearly orbicular, 

 obtuse, deeply cor- 

 date at the base, 

 glabrous, sub- 

 fleshy, deep green 

 with petiole sub- 

 channeled above. 

 The first nepionic 

 leaf is pinnately 

 trifoliolate, leaflets 

 petiolate, rotund, 



nse. The leaflets date 



smaller and 



