THE GROWTH OF DUCKWEEDS IN MINERAL NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS WITH AND WITHOUT ORGANIC EXTRACTS

1. Detmer's solution and a modified Knop's solution are unfavorable culture media for the growth of Spirodela polyrhiza. 2. When the modified Knop's solution was diluted to 10 times its volume, Spirodela polyrhiza and Lemna valdiviana grew and reproduced for periods of 26 months and 21 months, respectively. 3. Growth in the dilute Knop's solution, which alone can support the growth of Spirodela indefinitely, was considerably stimulated over a period of 23 days by adding to every liter the water-soluble material of 0.4 gm. autolyzed yeast, or the material of 2.5 gm. peat soluble in a 1 per cent solution of NaHCO(3). 4. The nature of the stimulus or of the protection afforded by the organic material is as yet unknown. 5. The necessity of organic accessory foods (auximones) in the nutrition of green plants cannot be accepted as an established fact.