130 Bower. — On the modes of 
inserted on the midrib sometimes at a point not far above the 
petiole, sometimes further up the lamina : the flowers, one to 
three in number, are shortly pedunculate, and are often sub- 
tended by a second leaf, the upper surface of which faces the 
back of that from which they both spring. The above account 
is taken from the Botanical Magazine ; and, in default of actual 
specimens for observation or of any observations on the 
development, it seems not improbable that this peculiarity 
in Erythrochiton is due to a displacement similar to that 
above described in Calamus. 
It may now be considered how the displacement of the 
axillary bud affects the plant as a whole. It is of the greatest 
importance to this, as to other climbing plants, that the as- 
similating leaves should be exposed to the sunlight, and this 
they strive to effect by a straggling habit, and by the help of 
adaptation for mechanical support on other plants, which 
allows them meanwhile to economise in the substances re- 
quired for building up a rigid stem ; the more efficient the 
mode of climbing the more successful will be the economy. 
If in the case of Calamus the axillary bud were developed as 
a flagellum, but remained inserted in the axil of the next lower 
leaf, the two members, being extended in the same plane and 
the leaf being the lower, it is improbable that the lower por- 
tions of the flagellum would come in contact with any support, 
since the leaf-stalk would be in the way, and the pressure upon 
a support as the plant straggled over the surrounding vegeta- 
tion would certainly come first upon the leaf-stalk : in this 
case it would only be the upper portion of the flagellum 
which would be practically of use as a supporting organ. But 
the case is otherwise when the axillary bud is displaced and 
adherent to the sheath of the next higher leaf : it is thus clear 
of its own subtending leaf, and projects freely from the shoot 
at a point considerably above it. This being so, it is probable 
that as the plant straggles through and over the surrounding 
vegetation even the lower parts of the flagellum will have an 
opportunity of affording support to the whole shoot. Again, 
the angle of divergence between the displaced axillary bud 
