346 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. Ill, No. 3, 
FASCIATION. 
Lumina C. Riddi.e. 
The phenomena of faseiation are sufficiently striking to attract 
the attention of the most casual observer, and the malformation 
occurs so frequently that nearly every person has seen one or 
more cases of it. It manifests itself usually by a remarkable 
broadening and flattening of the stem, crowded phyllotaxy and 
often spiral twisting and splitting of this broadened axis, although 
the portion of the plant affected and the exact character of the 
growth varies with the nature of the plant. Those having the 
rosette habit throughout their entire life, as the common dande- 
lion, show faseiation in the peduncle of the inflorescence. In the 
thistle ( Fig. 2 , ) which has the rosette habit during the first year 
Fig. 1. a. Ailanth us glandutosus. />. Ranunculus abortivus. 
and is stemmed during the second year, it has only been observed 
in the second year’s growth and affected the entire stalk. In 
the herbaceous hollow-stemmed plant of Ranunculus abortivus , 
{Fig. /, b ,) the entire stem was found fasciated and inside was 
found a reversed cylinder having the delicate epidermal layer 
within and a well developed ring of fibro-vascular tissue surround- 
ing it. In Erigeron philadelphicus the leaves were so closely 
