OP CEYLON AND INDIA. 
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on the main stem, there is a floral shoot. This seems to 
develop from the same axis that once gave the ramulus, but 
of this I cannot be certain from the material at my disposal. 
Instead of being, as the ramuli were, exactly under the 
branches of unlimited growth, the flower shoots are usually 
displaced upwards towards one side. 
As Plate VI. shows, the floral shoots are very short, con- 
sisting simply of the very short axis with leaves, ramuli, 
and cupule, with the flower stalk emerging from the latter. 
The flowers certainly open in the air before the water has 
fallen so low as to strand the shoots upon the rocks, but 
whether the pedicel lengthens while still under water so as 
to bring the flower above the surface, as in many ordinary 
water plants, or whether it remains of constant length till 
the flower is exposed to the air, I cannot certainly say ; the 
former is more probable from analogy. All the floral shoots 
bend upwards, evidently being very sensitive to the stimulus 
of light or of gravity at this period. 
Before proceeding with the consideration of the flowers 
we must go back to deal with the shoots mentioned as often 
found upon the thalli, which are not fully developed like 
those we have considered. Very often there may be seen a 
couple of ramuli apparently springing from the thallus ; on 
closer examination these are found to spring from a short 
secondary axis which has not lengthened in the ordinary 
way. A not infrequent type of shoot to be found on the 
thallus is that shown in PI. VIII., figs. 4, 5. A short stout 
axis, bearing leaves which persist somewhat longer than is 
usual with, leaves on the main axis, springs from the thallus 
to a height of 1-2 cm., with a stout hapterousfoot. It some- 
times branches once or twice, but very commonly is quite 
simple, usually bearing one or two ramuli, and ending in a 
flower, at the base of whose stalk is a cupule, as usual. 
Sometimes, as shown at x in fig. 5, the floral shoot is even more 
simple, and is like one of the shoots already described which 
arise at the nodes of the main axis. This type of shoot is 
very frequent on the thalli of the S. Kanara material, which 
