FASCIATION. 
8 I 
duce cleistogamous flowers. But among certain plants the ability 
to produce such flowers has become of great importance because 
the chasmogamous flowers do not produce seed with regularity. 
Finally, the relation in regard to seed-production is the reverse 
of what it is commonly conceived to be: the cleistogamous flowers 
do not appear because the chasmogamous ones produce no seeds, 
but the production of seeds by these may be omitted because the 
plant has cleistogamous flowers. B. C. G. 
FASCIATION: ITS MEANING AND ORIGIN.* 
“ Fasciation ” refers to a class of abnormal stems, examples of 
which are not uncommon and which are easily recognized by the 
conspicuous banding and enlargement of the axis. At a greater 
or less distance from the base they become broadened and flat¬ 
tened, showing at the same time characteristic ridges and fur¬ 
rows. The stem splits in the upper and younger part and the 
two or more segments develop independently, so that although 
they are not necessarily of the same size, neither one could 
be recognized as the “ main axis.” Fasciated stems produce 
many leaves scattered or crowded so irregularly that there is no 
sign of the original phyllotactic order. Sometimes the internodes 
develop unequally, and there results the well-known torsions 
which most frequently take the form of “ shepherd’s crooks.” 
The classic example of fasciation is the cockscomb (Celosia cris- 
tata ) where by cultivation this tendency is developed to an exag¬ 
gerated degree. 
The explanation is not a simple one. Since the stem shows 
normal anatomical conditions and no definite trace of the apparent 
fusion, there is a class of writers who take an opposing view to 
that of Worsdell, asserting that the phenomenon is exhibited by 
one single stem, rather than that it implies the union of several. 
Worsdell reviews at length many instances and considers par¬ 
ticular cases in detail. In general his discussion is as follows: 
There are two tendencies active throughout the production of 
* W. C. Worsdell, The New Phytologist, 4: 55. 1905. 
