il5 Note 071 the Branched Fahni^ra Trees. [January 



of plants to which they belong', the explanation given by a distin- 

 guished French Botanist may prove interesting: to some of the rea- 

 ders of the Journal. The stipe or stalk of p'jhr.s is in many res- 

 pects allied to a bulb and in consequence it is seldom branched, as 

 branches are always produced by the elongation of u bud, which is 

 usually placed in the axilla of a leaf ; but in the rnonocotyledous 

 plants, or those whose seeds are not divided into two portions, these 

 axillary buds almost always prove abortive cr remain in the 

 rudimental state as in the palms, and hence the stipe u perfectly 

 simple ; but occasionally some of the buds receiving more nourish- 

 ment than the others become developed, that is to say, the leaves 

 that compose them uniting at their base, form a new stipe, spring- 

 ing from the old. Instances of this may be observed in some spe- 

 cies of yucca and in the Cucifera Thebaica (American Palms.) 

 Richard's Botany. 



Without referring to the interesting discoveries in the physiology 

 of animals, made of late years by a careful study of monstrous pro- 

 ductions, it is evident that these anomalies of the giowth of Palm 

 trees assist in a remarkable manner the enquirer into the structure 

 of plants of this class, by bringing to light the existence of rudimen- 

 tal parts which might have otherwise escaped detection, and are 

 also interesting in demonstrating the effects of the unnatural or un- 

 healthy execution of the nutritive functions. It should be kept in 

 rnind that all branches are truly distinct individuals or the vivipar- 

 ous proo:eny of the stem on which they are formed, their rudiments 

 existing from the first formation of the germ, till circumstances 

 at some indeterminate period, unfolds it into a perfect branch, and 

 that if the vital energy is unusually augmented the bud may be un- 

 folded into a perfect branch before the natural period in which it 

 would have progressively become so. 



The process here described I have witnessed from its commence- 

 ment in the Palmyra (Borassiis Flabelli(ormis) but the young branch 

 did not appear likely to attam to any size or prolonged existence- 

 The soil was favourable and the trees flourishing. I have also seen 

 the process going on in the common wild date tree (elate silvestris,^ 

 where it seemed to arise from the head having been injured and a 

 consequent oversupply of nutrition sent to the other parts. 



In the tree No. 2, of Colonel Bewler's sketches, the cause was 



