250 MR. В. 8. ADAMSON ON THE COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 
just over the tip of the leaf is a water-stoma. A moderately large inter- 
cellular зрасе occurs between the water-discharging parenchyma and the 
stoma. 
Anatomical Features of the Leaf-base.—A]l the species examined have 
certain features in common. The phyllotaxis is opposite and decussate. 
With the exception of Group F, all have almost sessile leaves, with only a 
constricted portion, or vagina, clasping the axillary bud; this vagina is 
1-1 inch in length. With few exceptions, a single leaf-trace bundle enters 
the stem from each leaf and passes vertically down through two internodes 
below the point of insertion, as described by De Bary in Г. incisa *. 
Followed upwards the leaf-trace bundle on leaving the stem at once divides 
in most species, giving off a branch to each side; but in V. Bidwillii, which 
has a short petiole, the trace does not divide till it enters the lamina. The 
central bundle and the first two branches are prominent throughout the length 
of the leaf. 
In nearly all the species examined a patch of corky cells is developed at the 
point of insertion of the leaf (figs. 1 & 2). The number and exact position of 
Fic. 1. Fic. 2. 
ST s pop 
ИИ 
P AAT 
№) уз / @ d 
Longitudinal section through leaf-insertion Longitudinal section through the insertion 
of V. pinguifolia : axillary bud (а); of a leaf of V. Hectori: leaf-trace 
bundle of leaf (b); cork-cells (с), those bundles (b); leaf-ctissue (1); cork 
of the leaf-base are continuous with the (shaded, с); cortex of stem (5). X 116. 
periderm ; stem (в); and leaf (2). 
these cells varies in different cases. In radial longitudinal section the patch 
usually appears somewhat triangular, with the apex towards the vaseular 
* De Bary (1884). 
