On “ Fasciation.” 
63 
meaning of this interesting phenomenon until after some instances 
of it have been cited. 
I gathered a peduncle of Plantago lanceolata which bore 
twin flower-spikes at the summit; the peduncle itself was furrowed 
throughout its length and nearly twice the thickness of normal 
peduncles. 
I found much thickened and furrowed peduncles of Eryngium 
amethystinuin bearing inflorescences which were in some cases two- 
in others four-lobed at the apex. 
Partial fusions (using this term in a purely descriptive sense) 
between the pedicels of the secondary umbels are very common in 
CEnanthe crocata ; at the base of the free portion it is not uncommon 
for bracts to occur, and this might suggest to the worshipper of 
developmental data that the apparent fusion was due to mere 
intercalary growth of the main axis below the umbel and formed 
no real part of the secondary umbellular axis; but I cannot my¬ 
self accept such a view. These “ fusions ” in QEnanthe appear to 
be one result of an upset of the equilibrium of the inflorescence ; 
another is the occurrence of single, stalked flowers in the position 
of the umbellules, which is probably a reversion to the primitive 
character of simple umbels. A thickened, furrowed peduncle of a 
Dandelion bore twin capitula at the apex, which were perfectly 
distinct. 
In Primula Tliomassonii the thickened peduncle with its median 
furrow had forked a short distance below the insertion of the 
flowers, hence two umbels were present, one at the summit of each 
fork, the stalk of each of these being thickened and furrowed in its 
turn. 
In Campanula media, of the four flowers born at the apex of 
an abnormal stem, tw r o were quite free (though “ fused ” by their 
pedicels), while the other two were congenitally “ united ” to form 
a single flower; in another instance all four flowers were 
“ coalescent ” to constitute a single, horizontally-elongated flower 
containing about twenty carpels; in some cases the union between 
any two ovaries is not so complete as in others, a fairly thick wall 
separating the two, the styles being distinct; in others more inti¬ 
mate union occurs and the styles are united to form a thick, broad 
column. (Fig. 18.) 
There was a remarkable case of Narcissus poeticus in which 
seven flowers were “ united ” in this way in one plane. The flower 
at one end of the row was almost free, this, its neighbour, and the 
