Excerpt from The Botanical Gazette, Vol. 54: July-December, 1912 In 1907, theo. Holm in describing the anatomical structure of Dianthera americana, called attention to the polystelic con dition of the stem. This paper seems to be the only one ever published on this intensely interesting plant. So at the suggestion of Professor duncan S. Johnson, I have made a study of the ontogenetic development of the stelar structure in order to find out how the polystelic condition of the mature plant is derived. The material studied consisted of seedlings grown in the labora tory and greenhouse from seeds collected near the Chain Bridge (over the Potomac River about four and one-half miles above Washington, DC), of seedlings collected at the Chain Bridge, and of mature plants from Chain Bridge and from near Betterton, Md. Most of the material studied was imbedded in paraffin, and sectioned 5 - 10 thick. Various stains were used, but the best results were obtained with methyl green and acid fuchsin. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.