
4 GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 
true node of the plant. This view is confirmed by those plants which 
emit buds from the axils of their cotyledons, and develope perfect 
branches from these first nodes ; as the common Bean (Vicia Faba). 
16. The cotyledons are generally two in number ; and here we have 
a remark to make, the importance of which will appear by-and-by. The 
leaves of this first node often appear in pairs, whilst the subsequent 
leaves of the stem are placed alternately ; an approximation and con- 
nection being thus shown between parts, which nature subsequently 
separates, and places at a distance. The case is still more remarkable 
when the cotyledons ‘appear like a number of little leaves round a 
common axis; whilst upon the stem which rises from the centre, the 
subsequent leaves are developed singly; this may be observed in the 
different kinds of Pine; the cotyledons of which are a crown of needle- 
shaped leaves. As we proceed we shall meet with similar pheno- 
mena.* ; 
17. We shall not consider at present those plants which have only a 
single cotyledonary leaf. 
18. Let us, however, pause to remark that even those cotyledons 
which most resemble leaves, when compared with the subsequent stem- 
leaves, are always imperfectly formed. Their margin is entire, with as 
few traces of incisions in it, as of hairs on the surface, or of any of those 
vessels which are to be observed in perfect leaves. } 
Il. On the Formation of the Stem-leaves at the successive Nodes 
of the Stem. 
19. We are now able to observe with accuracy the successive forma- 
tion of the leaves; as the progressive operations of nature all take 
place before our eyes. Some, or many, of the leaves which now appear, 
often exist previously in the seed, enclosed between the cotyledons ; and 
are then called the plumule. Their shape, relatively to that of the 
* Duchartre says that the appearance of several cotyledons in the Pines, and some 
other plants, is due to the subdivision of each of the two cotyledons into a number 
of lobes, (Ann. des Se. Nat. 3rd ser. vol. x. p. 234.) Whether the four cotyledons 
of Nuytschia, an Australian terrestrial Lorant racea, are due to a similar subdivision, 
is not stated, 
. Y Occasionally, however, the cotyledons are lobed or notched at their margins, as 
in the Geranium ; while at other times they possess hairs on their surface, as in Gos- 
sypium ; or little vesicular glands, as in Myrtles, ete. These instances do but afford 
further proofs of the identity between the cotyledons and the leaves. For a full ac- 
— T homologies of these organs, see De Candolle, * Organographie Végétale,’ 



