44 BULLETIN 1450, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
REPRODUCTION FROM PROLIFEROUS SHOOTS 
A proliferous shoot, unlike a proliferating floret with a single 
enlarged bract, is capable, under suitable conditions, of developing 
into a timothy plant. 
On November 13, 1920, two groups of plants were taken from plats 
on the station and transplanted to a bench in a greenhouse. On each 
one of the first group of 23 plants there was one head with prolifer- 
ating florets, each with a single enlarged bract. On each of the 
second group of 12 plants there was a head having a number of 
proliferous shoots. When the plants were transplanted the stems 
with proliferations were bent over and the heads partially covered 
with soil. From the 23 heads with single bract proliferations no 
timothy plant developed. From the 12 heads in the second group 
plants developed directly from one or more of the proliferous shoots 
on 7, or 58.3 per cent, of the heads. 
Although proliferous shoots under the proper conditions readily 
take root and develop into timothy plants, on only two occasions dur- 
ing this investigation were timothy heads with proliferations observed 
in meadows of ordinary timothy on stems bent over so the heads were 
in contact with the soil. On neither one of them had any of the pro- 
liferations taken root at the time when they were observed. 
PROLIFEROUS SHOOTS NOT VIVIPAROUS 
The occurrence of vivipary is sometimes referred to in the botan- 
ical literature of grasses (##, p. 1^18-1^19). Used accurately as a 
botanical term, vivipary means the germination of a seed while it 
is still attached to the parent plant, though the term has commonly 
been used incorrectly to describe the development of what are desig- 
nated in this bulletin as proliferous shoots. The evidence presented 
in the following paragraphs shows that in timothy the proliferous 
shoots are not viviparous in their origin. 
On the primary shoot of any timothy plant developed from seed 
the first leaf blades are comparatively long and narrow, like those 
on the seedling at the right in Plate 8, 0. On a timothy shoot 
developed from an ordinary vegetative bud the first leaf blades are 
relatively short and broad, like those on the shoot at the left in 
Plate 8, 0. The first leaves of the proliferous shoot in the center 
of this illustration are very similar to the first leaves of the vegeta- 
tive shoot at the left and quite dissimilar to the first leaves of the 
seedling shown at the right. This is very strong evidence that the 
proliferous shoots of timothy do not develop from seed. 
In November, 1920, a timothy plant having a head with several 
proliferous shoots was examined. A small vegetative bud was grow- 
ing in the axil of one or more of the leaves on several of these 
shoots. On one of them a well-formed bud was growing in the axil 
of the outer scale, corresponding to the lemma, which was shorter 
than the glumes of the spikelet and which was modified, if at all, 
but very slightly. This may be regarded as direct evidence that 
proliferous timothy shoots represent a vegetative growth. 
