686 Bancroft. — Note on Vegetative Reproduction in 
the apex of a vegetative shoot may take place. The observations of 
Bruchmann 1 show that in 5. Lyallii the branches of the older shoot- 
systems close to the ground, or branches of the ordinarily erect system 
accidentally in contact with the 
ground, may become enlarged at 
the apex and form leaves which 
differ considerably from the leaves 
of the ordinary branches, resem- 
bling the scales on the rhizome 
and on the lower unbranched 
parts of the erect system. 2 
In .S', chrysocaulos the stem- 
apices forming the ‘ buds 5 or 
{ tubers ’ show close and repeated 
dichotomous (‘ dichopodial ’ 3 ) 
branching ; a rhizophore often 
occurs in the fork between two 
branches, arising in the axil of 
a leaf (PL XLIX, Fig. i, and 
Text-figs, i and 2). 4 The rhizo- 
phores are themselves frequently 
dichotomously branched (Text- 
fig. i), and serve to attach the 
‘ tubers 5 firmly to the substra- 
tum. In several cases the com- 
mencement of branching is in- 
dicated by the enlargement of the 
end of the rhizophore 5 (Text- 
fig. i, at A). Particularly at such 
enlargements, the tips \of the rhizophores develop very numerous root- 
hairs, the epidermal cells growing out to some length. This also is 
indicated at A in Text-fig. i. 
The leaves of the tubers are very closely packed and uniform in size ; 
they are relatively broader and shorter than the leaves of the erect system, 
and possess a very distinct awn, about one-quarter to one-third of the 
1 Bruchmann, H. : Die vegetativen Verhaltnisse der Selaginellen (Giebel’s Zeitschr. f. d. 
gesamt. Naturwissensch., 1877, i, pp. 524-6), p. 526. 
2 Bruchmann also showed that cones may proliferate in the same way ; and Behrens (Uber die 
Regeneration bei den Selaginellen, Flora, Ixxxiv, 1897, p. 159) produced proliferated apices 
artificially in various species, obtaining new plants from them. 
3 Cf. Velenovsky, J. : Vergleichende Morphologie der Pfianzen, 1905-13, p. 246 and p. 259, 
Fig. 177. 
4 Hofmeister, W. : On the Pligher Cryptogamia (trans. by F. Currey; Ray. Soc., 1862), 
P- 383. 
5 Ibid., p. 384. 
Text-fig. 1. Selaginella chrysocaulos. A ‘surface 
tuber ’, showing the dichopodial branching, the 
occurrence of the ventral rhizophores, and the arrange- 
ment and form of the leaves. The enlargement of 
the end of a rhizophore before branching, with a 
considerable development of root-hairs, is indicated 
at A. x 3. 
