Notes on the Early Development of Astragalus caryocarpus

While a student at the University of Nebraska the writer became interested in plant embryology, a subject which has attracted much attention during the past few years, especially since the remarkable work of Strasburger, Guignard, and other European botanists. Many American botanists, however, have since done much work along embryological and cytological lines, viz.: Chamberlain, Webber, Schaffner, Harper, Coulter, and others. Most of the work that has been done is of a purely technical and botanical character, excepting that done in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, where it has been carried on especially with reference to fertilization and its results. Botanists have usually selected such material as could be most easily worked up, e. g., such plants as many of the Ranunculaceae and Liliaceae, plants which have large pistils and large cells, and are easily oriented in paraffine. The Leguminous plants have not been so generally worked with, because they are ordinarily more difficult to handle