112 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



that of any other plant. There are plenty of plants that bear 

 ttibers, but in most cases these organs are formed at the end of 

 short subterranean branches, or else there is a single tuber from 

 which the aerial stems grow. In the rue anemone the tubers 

 radiate from the base of the stem and their position has induced 

 Richard Vogt to watch the young seedling to see how they are 

 formed. His conclusions are reported in the Midland Xatural- 

 ist. The seedling plant rarely produces more than one leaf the 

 first year, exclusive of the cotyledons. The primary root pro- 

 duces a few secondary roots at its base and then dies. Later 

 the caulicie or hypocotyl, as the stem below the cotyledons is 

 called, increases in diameter and acts as a place of food storage 

 during the first winter. A\dien growth is resumed, two or three 

 leaves are produced and from the base of each a root arises 

 which by autumn has assumed the tuber-like form with which 

 we are familiar. Each succeeding leaf appears to form one of 

 these tuberous storehouses. It thus turns out that what we 

 commonly call tubers in this plant are not true tubers, for the 

 latter are modified stems and not rootlike in origin. The com- 

 mon potato is therefore a tuber, but the sweet potato is not ; it 

 is a tuberous root much like the objects from which the rue 

 anemone stem is produced. 



The Cabbage in Philology. — When we speak of a cab- 

 bage head, we rather overstate things, for the word, cabbage, 

 itself means head if the students of language are correct. In 

 the Latin tongue, caput signifies head. The French equivalent 

 is caboche and in the English this becomes cabbage. The cab- 

 bage, however, is only one form of the species. The kohl rabi, 

 cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and broccoli are other well 

 known forms. All these are often designated by the Anglo- 

 Saxon word cole which is also derived through the Latin from 

 the Greek ^a/z/o^ 'meaning a stem. In the Latin the word be- 

 comes caulis and in the Scotch, Icelandic and other Northern 

 languages it becomes cal, caid, kal, cole and kale. The modern 



