330 Scott . — On two new instances of Spinous Roots . 
Numerous fleshy normal roots are growing vigorously from 
the base of the stem, and a few from the tuber itself. So 
far, however, there is no sign of any increase in the tuber, 
nor have any new spine-bearing roots as yet made their 
appearance. 
The existence of spinous roots is not altogether unknown 
in the genus Dioscorea ; D. spinosa , Roxb., is described in 
Hooker’s Flora of British India (vol. vi, p. 291) as having 
‘ long woody rigid fibres, bearing spines half an inch long.’ 
Roxburgh himself, in describing the same species (under the 
name of D. acute a ta), uses these words : ‘ tubers oblong, 
pendulous, the fibres of the proper roots become spinous V 
It would appear, then, that this Indian species is similar, 
as regards the character in question, to the West African 
D. prehensilis. It is not improbable that other instances 
may be brought to light within the genus Dioscorea , which 
appears to offer considerable scope for further morphological 
investigation. 
2. Moraea, sp. 
Root-clusters of this Iridaceous plant were sent to Kew, in 
December, 1896, by Mr. J. W. Mathews, of the Municipal 
Gardens, Cape Town, who found it growing wild in the 
neighbourhood of Cape Town. The stem has an enlarged 
base, perhaps representing the original corm ; above the base 
it becomes cylindrical, and is hard and woody throughout. 
The spinous roots, which are stiff and wiry, spring from the 
swollen base of the stem on all sides, radiating out in every 
direction, and curving and interlacing, so as to form a dense 
network, which bristles with spines, and suggests a vegetable 
hedgehog more than anything else. 
The whole mass is from two to three inches in diameter, 
and is not unlike the root-cluster of the Dioscorea on a small 
scale (see Plate XVI). The ordinary roots arise chiefly from 
the under surface of the enlarged base of the stem. 
Histological investigation shows that the spinous roots are 
1 Roxburgh, Flora Indica, iii, p. 800. 
