-June, 1902 .] 
Rosette Plants of Ohio. 
291 
Salsify, and Parsnip of the garden. The natural tendency of the 
rosette plant, in these cases, to store up food for the second year’s 
growth is taken advantage of by gardeners and a valuable food 
plant residts. 
In the temperate zone, under the favorable conditions for plant 
growth that obtain in our State, not many perennials find it advan- 
tageous to retain the rosette habit beyond the critical period in 
their life history which lies between the sprouting of the seed and 
the establishment of a strong, underground stem or root system. 
At this period the rosette is replaced by an aerial, flowering stem 
as, for example, with the Canada Thistle, Carduus arveusis. This 
fact is noted by Prof. Lyster H. Dewey in Bulletin 27, Div. of 
Bot., U. S. Dept, of Agr. He says : “ Canada Thistle is usually 
first introduced into new localities by the seed. The seed germi- 
nates and a rosette of leaves lying almost flat on the ground is first 
formed. * * The following year a flowering stalk branching at 
the top grows up to a height from one to three feet (20 to 100cm. ) 
rarely higher.” 
Fig. 1. a, close rosette of Onagra biennis ; b, open rosette of Geranium 
carolinianum ; c, perpetual rosette of Tetraneuris acaulis. 
The perennials which retain the rosette habit throughout their 
life history may be termed perpetual rosettes. I11 Ohio they are 
few in number and are mostly scapose or aeaulescent plants as the 
Dandelion, Taraxacum taraxacum ; English Daisy, Beilis peren- 
nis ; Lakeside Daisy, Tetraneuris acaulis ; and Plantain, Plantago 
sp. 
One group of perpetual rosettes, however, is not aeaulescent, 
having solved the problem of being low rosette plants and at the 
same time having aerial flowering stems. This is accomplished 
by the plant sending out lateral branches from the axils of its 
rosette leaves. These lateral branches grow outwards and up- 
wards, flowering and fruiting freely but not enough to exhaust 
