THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 
Vol. 11. June 15, 1902. No. 6 
FASCIATION. 
By Prof. Wm. Whitman Bailey. 
It is not an uncommon thing — especially in wet seasons — to see 
manifestations among plants of what is technically known as fas- 
ciation. The term is derived from the Latin fasces, meaning a 
bundle of rods, such as with the axe, were carried by thevictors. 
To this day we frequently see the symbol in courts of justice. 
The technical term as applied tO' plants might be translated 
''bundling." It results from the growing together — or coales- 
cence of several or many buds w^ien in their nascent state. This 
changes the whole subsequent appearance of the plant. Instead 
of the usual cylindric stem, the axis becomes flattened and as- 
sumes a ribbon-like appearance. Even the flowers partake of the 
distortion, and the leaves are projected on a vertical plane instead 
of in a spiral. This helps to throw some confirmatory light on 
the accepted theories of phyllotaxy or leaf arrangement. The 
old-fashioned flower known as ''cocks-comb," is the result of 
fasciation in a kind of amaranth maintained and perpetuated by 
seed. Generally the forms would revert in perennials to the race 
characteristics. 
The phenomenon has been observed in a great many species of 
plants both herbaceous and woody. Thus, the writer has himself 
seen it in the bulbous and tall butter-cups, in the white-weed, in 
the cone-flower or Rudbeckia, in both the native and introduced 
Linarias, like the butter-and-eggs, and in asparagus. 
A very striking specimen of fasciated Rudbeckia was sent me 
this week from Shannock. It was about two feet high, two 
inches broad in the widest part, but e\^erywhere thin like a ribbon. 
Instead of the usual conical heads, these become arched in a most 
peculiar way. Maxwell T. Masters catalogues at least 1 50 plants 
