758 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
( 2 ) Nutrition and Growth (including- Germination, and Movements 
of Fluids). 
Germination of TJmbelliferse.* — M. L. Geneau de Lamarliere has 
noticed various peculiarities in the mode of germination of certain 
species of Umbelliferse. In some species — Smyrnium Olusatrum , perfo- 
liatum, and rotundifolium , Myrrhis odorata , TJiapsia villosa, Ferula com- 
munis and glauca, and CJioerophyllum bulbosum — the lower portions of the 
cotyledons are coalescent into a longer or shorter tube, partly above and 
partly below the surface. In Conopodium denudatum and Bunium 
Bulbocastanum, the coalescence of the two cotyledons is more complete, 
giving the appearance of there being only one. In Smyrnium rotundi- 
folium and Cliserophyllum bulbosum the cotyledonary tube is covered in 
its lower portion by a coating of hairs similar to that of the root ; the 
hypocotyledonary axis passes insensibly into the root. In Bunium and 
Conopodium the normal plumule is suppressed, and is replaced by a bud 
having a lateral origin near to the root, which is swollen into a tuber. 
Growth of Plants.f — Prof. E. Godlewski has made a series of experi- 
ments — chiefly with the epicotyl of Phaseolus multiflorus — on the influence 
of certain external factors on the growth of plants, and on the mode in 
which this influence is exercised. The apparatus used was Baranetzki’s 
auxanometer. 
The daily variations in the growth of green plants under normal 
light-conditions he finds not to be nearly so regular as has been stated 
by Sachs ; they depend very largely on the individual properties of the 
plant, and vary also according to the period of the year. In etiolated 
plants the periodicity is much less marked. Rapid decrease of the 
moisture of the air affects turgor and tension rather than actual growth. 
The effect of sudden illumination is transitory. The effect of a sudden 
fall in temperature of the air is very marked ; the influence of the 
temperature of the soil on growth is very slight. 
In the phenomena of growth the author distinguishes two factors — 
the extension of the membrane from turgor, and the restoration of its 
extensibility. The gradual decrease in the intensity of growth after the 
maximum has been attained, is due to the gradual decrease of the extensi- 
bility of the membrane ; the extension due to turgor appears necessarily 
to precede growth. The slower growth of illuminated than of etiolated 
internodes is the result of a diminished extensibility of the membrane 
due to light. The smaller thickness of the membrane of etiolated 
internodes is the result, not the cause, of stronger growth. 
Growth of the Silver-fir.J — In an elaborate paper on the morphology 
and periodicity of growth of the silver-fir, Dr. W. Busse thus sums up 
his general conclusions : — In relation to its form and anatomical struc- 
ture, the cone of growth may be regarded as belonging to one of three 
types, — those of the stem, of the longer, and of the shorter shoots; and 
the structure of the branch is already determined in that of the resting 
bud. A lower type may, however, pass over into one of a higher 
denomination. The plerome or pith of the cone of growth is usually 
* Rev. Gen. de But. (Bonnier) v. (1893) pp. 159-71, 224-9, 258-64 (15 figs.), 
t Abhandl. Krak. Akad. Wiss., xxiii. pp. 1-157. See Bot. Centralbl., lv. (1893) 
p. 34. % Flora, lxxvii. (1893) pp. 113-75 (1 pi.). 
