Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/93

 SUORT NOTES AND QUERIES. 79

equally worries me is the great diversity in the position of the accent sanc- tioned by the usage of our foremost botanical writers. I go no further than these, for when we descend to the minora ddera^ the differences are greatly multiplied. To prove my point I shall confine myself to the handbooks of Babington, fifth edition (B.), Hooker (H.), and Syme (S.), and Koch's ' Synopsis ' (K.), taking some twenty plants and classifying my results. B. and S. agree in placing the accent on the penult in Corydalis, Reseda (K.), Oiiohrychh (K.), (Enothera, Cuscuta, A&perugo, Obione, L. Martagon, A. Scorodoprasum, etc., Tric/locJun (K.), P. Hydroplper, Mi/rica (K.); whilst in all these cases H. has the penult short, and K. is silent unless inserted as above. B. stands alone with accent on penult in Koniga (K. is silent), Oxytropis, Doronicum (K. silent), C. Calcitrapa, Tul'ipa ; H. stands alone in accented penult of Ornithopns, Comarum, Arnoseris, Arbutus (forgetting " viride membra sub arbuto stratus"), PJiyUodoce (K. silent), P. Coro- nopus (K. silent) ; S. alone shortens the penult in Petroselinum, Urtica ; K. differs from the English writers in placing the accent on the penult in Cephala)ithera, Gentaurea, Elatine ; H. and S. agree in lengthening the penult of Lapsana ; and finally, in the case of Radiola, B. puts accent on 0, H. K. on i, and S. on first syllable. Similar differences might be easily multiplied, and will readily occur to botanists. I think it would be a great advantage to have uniformity in this matter, and surely in the majority of the cases there is but one legitimate pronunciation, since the names are classical names and not anglicized forms. — Egbert Tucker.

��DeI'Ikite and Indefinite Hhizomes. — The division of axes into definite and indefinite has a very important meaning with reference to the general habit of plants. Ordinarily speaking, that is to say, excepting only some wholly abnormal cases, when the terminal bud of an axis is developed into a flower, the growth of "the axis is arrested, and further increase can only take place by the production of axillary buds ; in such a case the axis is said to be definite. On the other hand, if the axis is never terminated by a flower or by anything but a growing bud, its continuous growth will of course proceed unchecked, and it is said to be indefi.nite. A general principle of this kind includes all that is stated in books about definite and indefinite rhizomes, branching, inflorescence. The only difterence between a conn and a rootstock, or rhizome, consists in the fact that a corm is only of a year's duration, while a rootstock consists of a string of annual growths, which remain persistently attached. Tlie only difference, for example, between the corm of Arum maculatum and the rhizome of Solomon's-seal lies in the persistence of the old axes in the latter case and their decay in the former. In both, the terminal bud of the subterranean horizontal axis turns up and produces an aerial development of inflorescence and leaves. The underground growth' is carried on by the elongation, later in the year, of an axillary bud. This is the typical arrangement of a definite rhizome, and it is, perhaps, the most common. Excellent illustrations are supjflied by the Bamboo and the genus Iris, as limited by Mr. Baker. According to fig. 130 in Henfrey's 'Elementary Course,' the Cowslip also has the flowering stem produced by a terminal bud. This would make it an instance of a definite rhizome, but this is almost certainly an error. Throughout the Primu- lacea, axillary inflorescence is the general rule, whether the main axis be erect, prostrate, or subterranean. The genus Prhnula is no exception, as

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