THE LAW CONTROLLING THE QUANTITY OF REGENERATION IN THE STEM OF BRYOPHYLLUM CALYCINUM

1. A method is given which allows us to measure the influence of the mass of a leaf upon the quantity of shoots regenerated in an isolated piece of stem. This method consists in isolating a piece of stem with only two leaves left at the basal node and then splitting the stem lengthwise so that each half has one basal leaf. By leaving one leaf intact while the size of the sister leaf is reduced, the influence of the mass of the leaf upon the quantity of shoots regenerated by the stem can be measured. 2. This method has yielded the result that the mass of shoots regenerated at the apex of such a piece of stem increases under equal conditions and in equal time with the mass of the leaf, and is approximately proportional to the mass of the leaf. 3. Such an influence of the mass of the leaf upon the mass of shoots produced by the stem is only intelligible on the assumption that the growth of the regenerating shoot occurs at the expense of material furnished by the basal leaf. 4. This assumption is supported by two facts: first, that in the dark this influence of the leaf disappears more or less completely; and, second, that a leaf attached to the base of a regenerating stem after some time weighs markedly less than does a sister leaf completely detached from the stem, but otherwise under equal conditions. 5. This latter fact that a leaf when attached to the base of an excised piece of stem wilts more rapidly than when completely isolated is the reason that the proportionality between mass of a basal leaf and mass of shoot regenerated at the apex of an isolated piece of stem cannot always be demonstrated with the same degree of accuracy as the proportionality between the mass of completely isolated leaves and the mass of shoots they produce. 6. The material furnished by the leaf to the stem is not restricted to water but includes also the solutes, since not only the fresh weight but also the dry weight of the shoot regenerated by a piece of stem increases with the mass of the leaf attached to the base of the stem; and since not only the water contents but the dry weight of a leaf attached to the base of an excised piece of stem diminish when compared with the dry weight of a completely detached sister leaf. 7. The mass of shoots produced by an isolated piece of stem without leaf is small and almost negligible compared with the mass of shoots produced by the same piece of stem when a leaf of sufficient mass is attached to the base of the stem.