FIG. 38.-MAGNOLIA UMBRELLA, showing disarticulation of the leafstalk above the stipules, which are wrapped round the terminal bud. Before and after the fall of the leaf.

PORTION OF SHOOT OF ASTRAGALUS CHINENSIS, showing stipules (St)

connate at the base. Nat.size.

FIG. 39.-Front view. FIG. 40.-Side view. Two leaflets of the compound leaf

are showu.

Where stipules are present the leaf has two, one on each side. Sometimes, however, the two stipules are connate, i.e., have grown together. This may take place on the outside of the leaf, and be either confined to the base, as in a Chinese Astragalus (Astragalus chinensis), (figs. 39, 40), or continue for the greater part of their length, as in Hedysarum esculentum (figs. 41, 42), where

HEDYSARUM ESCULENTUM. Nat. size.

FIG. 41.-Apex of growing shoot, showing side view of stipules; L', youngest, partly expanded leaf, with the lowest pair of leaflets still folded, and the stipules, st', connate opposite the leaf-base; L', next younger leaf pushing out of the bud with its stipules, st".

FIG. 42.-The same showing the dorsal aspect of the connate stipules, si'.

they are reddish brown and membranous, and develop early, so that the leaves at this stage lie between two rows of stipules. In Sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa) (figs. 43, 44) also the stipules are united for the greater part of their length. In other species they are 'intrapetiolar,' more or less connate on the axillary side of the leaf, as in the Pondweed (Potamogeton) (fig. 45) and in the Knotweeds (Polygonum) (fig. 46), where they form the sheath, called technically an ocrea.

The Hop also has connate stipules, but in this case the two which have coalesced belong to two opposite leaves (figs. 47, 48). Such stipules are termed 'interpetiolar.'

ONOBRYCHIS SATIVA, showing stipules (St) united for the greater part of their length.

FIG. 43.-Side view. FIG. 44.-Back view. P, leaf-stalk; FL, a flower-bud.

In Spergularia (fig. 135, p. 88) the stipules are free from the leaves, but connate at the base, forming a sheath, which envelops the base of the leaves.

De Candolle observes that the existence of stipules

paraît liée assez intimément avec la symétrie générale des plantes, car elles existent ou manquent dans toutes les espèces d'une famille: ainsi, on trouve des stipules dans les Rubiacées, les Malvacées, les Amentacées, les Légumineuses, les Rosacées, etc., et elles manquent dans toutes les Caryophyllées, les Myrtacées, &c.'

FIG. 45.-POTAMOGETON LUCENS, showing intrapetiolar stipules.

FIG. 46.-POLYGONUM, SHOWING
OCREA (0).

This, however, is not so general a truth as De Candolle imagined. The absence of stipules is not complete in either of the families mentioned by him. They occur not only in Spergula and Spergularia, which are now generally considered as belonging to the Caryophyllaceae (though certain botanists regard them as con

D

stituting a separate family), but also in most of the Polycarpece; and among the Myrtacea in Calythrix, Couroupita, and perhaps in some other genera.

Among other families some genera of which have stipules, while others are exstipulate, may be mentioned

FIG. 47.-END OF SHOOT OF Hop, × 3, showing connate stipules (St).

FIG. 48.-END OF SHOOT OF HOP.
Nat. size.

St, connate stipules folded back to show the
pair of leaves (L) to which they belong;
b, axillary buds; St2, next higher pair of
stipules, overlapping by their edges along
the median line of the axis, and with
the next higher pair (St3) covering the
terminal bud.

the Onagrariea, Saxifrageæ, Geraniaceae, Leguminosæ, Sapindaceae, and Euphorbiaceae. Moreover, as pointed out in the above passage from Vaucher, there are even certain genera—and in addition to Helianthemum I