Physiology of Fasciated Seedlings. 391 
physical environment which ‘ permits ’ the variability of the organism 
to assert itself anew? 
Abnormalities in the form of fasciations are of fairly frequent occurrence, 
and many examples have been described. C. Linnaeus (11) speaks of 
fasciations in his ‘ Philosophia Botanica \ He discusses their nature, and 
concludes that fasciated stems are due to the formation of an unusual 
number of growing points which become coherent, so that a whole bundle 
of shoots emerge as one. He says, ‘ cum plures caules connascuntur, ut 
unus ex plurimis instar fasciae evadet et compressus.’ 
At the beginning of the nineteenth century A. P. de Candolle ( 2 ) began 
to study malformations, but principally from the morphological point 
of view. 
T. A. Knight (8, 1832), in a letter to the Secretary of the Horticultural 
Society, gives us some interesting facts concerning the production of fascia- 
tion in the Cockscomb ( Celosia ), perhaps one of the most widely known 
fasciations. He found that by applying larger quantities of manure he 
could produce larger and flatter specimens of the flower stalk of Celosia. 
By manuring the soil with ‘ one part of unfermented horse-dung fresh from 
the stable and without litter, one part of burnt turf, one part of decayed 
leaves, and two parts of turf, the latter in lumps about half an inch in 
diameter ’, and by applying ‘ liquid manure of steeped pigeon-dung in 
water’, he could produce fasciated flower stalks eighteen inches wide. 
This fasciation is interesting in that the fasciated stem has now become 
normal and its inheritance is absolute. It is further instructive in that 
it is a definite example of a fasciation that has been induced by altered 
external conditions, the external condition which promotes fasciation being 
the superabundant nourishment. 
A. Moquin-Tandon ( 15 ) in 1841 published his* Elements de teratologie 
vegetale’, wherein he discusses the significance to be attached to mal- 
formations. In this work he makes the interesting observation that the 
seeds of a fasciated Circium reproduced the same condition in the seedlings. 
W. Hinks ( 7 ) in 1853 described instances of fasciation in Primula 
vulgaris, Hieracium aureum , Ranunculus bulbosus , Bunium flexuosum , 
Cotone aster microphylla , &c. He states ‘ that these malformations are due 
to the operation of causes or principles, the ordinary operation of which 
produces the normal structure of the species \ He evidently recognized 
that * extraordinary structures ’ were the result of ‘ extraordinary influences ’. 
He, however, goes on to say that ‘ fasciated stems seem to be best ex- 
plained on the principle of adherence of a number of buds which have 
arisen in close proximity owing to the presence of superabundant nourish- 
ment , especially if accompanied by check or injury *. He also combats the 
argument that fasciated stems are due to the dilation of a single stem, as 
had been supposed by many people. 
D d 2 
