CHIEF FORMS AND CLASSIFICATIONS OF STARCH-GRAINS. 65 



II. Simple Grains. Tlu; majority of i)I;uits exhibit perfectly simple iiuliviiliia,! grains, among which 

 doublets and triplets only occur as exceptions. The following groups may 

 be distinguished: 



1. Roundish Bodies. 



A. With the ciidnd cuvilij or hiliun ajjjmrcntly absent. 



1. Quito small, almost spherical gramdes, occurring almo.st evcrj-where from time 



to time in the vegctaljle kingdom as cellular contents, as for instance, in 

 carrots, in the cambium in the winter; in leaves as the bearers of chlorophyl, 

 etc. 



2. Large, irregular, knoljby, often truncated midtiangular grains, as, for instance, 



in the bulbous buds of Saxifraga granulata and in the pseudo-tubers of 

 Ficaria verna. 



B. With small roundish central cavities or hila. 



(a) With a perceptible laminated formation. 



3. Very large, rough grains, deformed as it were. Found in the pith of the Cijca- 



dacea. There are somewhat similar grains in the imdcrgrouuil leaves of 

 Lathrwa squamaria, in which the iimer layers form an ovoid gi-ain almost 

 similar to those of potato starch; the few grains formed in external layers, 

 on the contrary, are so irregular, and generally so disproportionally thick- 

 ened at one or two sides, that the whole grain assumes a broadish triangular 

 figure. 



4. Ovoid granules. In the potato. 



5. Mussel-like granules. In the bulbs of the larger Liliacece, as in Fritillaria and 



Lilium. 



6. Almost triangular. In Tulipa. 



(Jj) With an indislinct or deficient lamellatcd formation. 



7. Rounded-off polyhedric grains. In the albumen (perisperm) of Zea mays. 



8. Sharp-edged, polyhedric, very small grains. In the albumen of Oryza sativa. 



(c) W^ith an elongated central camty. 



9. Roundish or oval grains, in a dry condition, generally showing a star-like cleft 



in the iimer layers. In the Leguminosce, as in the seeds of Pisum and Pha- 

 seolus. 



(d) Perfectly hollow, apparently cup-like grains. 



10. Very marked in the rhizome of Iris Jlorentina and in kincbed species. 



2. Flatly compressed lenticular granules. 



11. Sometimes with, sometimes without, a decided lamellated formation; some- 



times with a central, or eccentric, or less rounded, or more elongated, or 

 radiated torn-up cavity or bilum. In the albumen of Triticum, Hordeum, 

 and Secale. 



3. Perfectly flat discs. 



12. With more distinct lamella, in which it is, however, at times doubtful whether 



they pass entirely around or are only menisci laid over one another. The 

 former appeared probable owing to analogy and the phenomena presented 

 in roasting and on dissolving in sulphuric acid. We do not find it in the 

 rhizomes of all the Scitaminew, as Meyer asserts, but exclusively in the Zin- 

 giberaceoe Lindl; and neither in the Cannacece, nor in the Marantaceoe. 



4. Elongated grains. 



13. With an elongated central cavity in the milk-juice of the indigenous and a few 



of the tropical Euphorhiaceos. 



5. Very irregular grains. 



14. In the milky juice of many tropical Euphorbiaccoe. 

 5 



