Robinson : Propagtitive Buds of Malaxis paludosa. 369 



bodies morphologically, are eminenth^ better fitted to survive 

 and germinate successfully than are the tiny seeds ; and we 

 assume (although this requires special investigation), that these 

 sporophytic buds are the general mode of reproduction, and the 

 seeds only very rarely succeed in raising new plants. This 

 assumption would account for the very localised occurrence of 

 this plant in its habitat. The three stations, where the speci- 

 mens now used were gathered, were small pieces of bog, a few 

 yards square in each case, and in one of them, although fifty 

 plants were counted in four square yards, scarcely a single 

 other specimen could be seen in the near vicinity in sphagnum 

 bog of exactly the same character. Naturally, the buds, when 

 released from the leaf, fall and germinate very near to 

 the parent plant. The tuber which enables the plant to 

 perennate generally also multiplies by giving off one or two 

 lateral buds. In a longitudinal section (fig. 3), through such a 

 bud, a general similarity to the smaller propagative leaf buds 

 was noted. Especially characteristic was the massive tuberous 

 base, with a lower foot-like projection in contact with the 

 parent tuber. 



Kerner [a) states that the propagative buds germinate to 

 form tubers, but from the fact that my preparations (fig. 8) 

 shew the apical portion in active division, I think it likely 

 that the apical portion retains this activity, and ultimately 

 gives rise to the growing point of the new shoot, notwith- 

 standing the intervening tuber formation. 



LITERATURE CITED. 

 a. — -Kerner — Natural History of Plants. 

 h. — F. O. Bower — The Origin of a Land Flora. 

 c. — Garry — Notes on the drawings for English Botany. 



— Supplement to Journal of Botany. 



EXPLANATION OF FIGURES. 



1. — ^Whole plant of Malaxis paludosa X f 



2. — The apical portion of a leaf shewing recurved apex bearing propa- 

 gative buds X 15. 



3. — Median longitudinal section of a lateral bud on tuber x 50. / = 

 tuberous base; e = ' foot-like organ; &=bud. 



4. — Median longitudinal section through apical portion of a leaf, shewing 

 four buds attached to the leaf x 80. a = outer envelope; 6 = central 

 compact body; c=large specialised mesophyll cells, 



5. — Radial longitudinal section through a very young bud X 160. 

 «= envelope ; 6 = central body; c = specialised mesophyll cells; d=^ 

 meristematic cells at the base of the bud. 



6. — Median longitudinal section through a slightly older bud, shewing 

 spindles of nuclei in division x 160. a = envelope ; 6 = central body; 

 e = specialised basal region of b. 



7. — A similar section to (6) through an older bud x 160. Lettering as 

 before. & = central body; 6i=second envelope. 



8. — A longitudinal section of a still older bud, shewing meristematic leaf 

 apices a and h and central apical region, hi also meristematic x 160. 



1908 October i. 



