L16 



THE FERN BULLETIN 



of willow will do the same, but with this difference. 

 In the willow we find that roots are produced from the 

 nodes on the portion of stem in water, and leaf-bearing 

 stems from those nodes out of the water, and that, too, 

 no matter whether the base of the cutting or its apex, 

 be placed in water. With Equisetum hyemale, all the 

 shoots produced are stems, roots appearing later from 

 the base of each newly formed shoot. 



The shoot, when it is first produced, grows very 

 slowly, so slowly, that the roots, although formed later, 

 soon grow quite beyond it. For a little while the stem 

 is apparently at a standstill. But, after the new roots 

 have made a little growth and are absorbing nourish- 

 ment, the little stems begin to shoot upward quite 

 rapidly. More shoots, on the average, are produced 

 from the lowermost nodes, that is the nodes in or near- 

 est the water, no matter whether it is the base of the 

 stem or its apex which is in the water. We notice also, 

 that growth here is more marked — it is here that the 

 shoots are the strongest, these, too, show strongest 

 root-growth and later the more rapid growth of the 

 stem. 



It is interesting, too, to note, that the papillae show- 

 ing where shoots are about to penetrate the stem, do 

 not continue upward farther than the fourth node, in 

 most cases to the third node only, and that after the 

 third or fourth day after the appearance of the papillae, 

 all that are likely to be formed, have been formed, so 

 that on the fifteenth day of the experiment, there are 

 no more shoots than on the ninth. It seems, too, thai 

 three shoots are the greatest number of shoots, from 

 any one node. 



Baltimore, Md. 



