318 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Study of the Family Ochnacese, especially of Malayan Species.* — 

 Y. Bartelletti gives au account of the external form and internal ana- 

 tomy, especially of the vegetative organs, of members of the family 

 Ochnacese. He also describes a number of new species from Prof. 

 Beccari's collection, with notes on other Malayan forms. 



Bast-Fibres of Japanese Fibre-Plants.f — K. Saito has made an 

 elaborate investigation of the structure, arrangement, and physical and 

 chemical properties of the bast-fibres in nearly thirty fibre-plants, native 

 or cultivated in Japan. The species investigated represent five orders 

 of monocotyledons and eleven of dicotyledons. The range of variation 

 in length and diameter of the fibre is given in each case, and the author 

 has also elaborated a table by means of which the species of the plant 

 can be diagnosed from the measurement and other characters of the 

 fibre. A copious bibliography forms an appendix. 



Secreting- Apparatus of Daniellia.J — L. Guignard describes an ex- 

 tensive system of anastomosing secreting canals in the wood of this 

 genus ; they arise schizogenously in the cambium. The foliar organs 

 also contain rounded secreting areas, also of schizogenous origin. In 

 the main the secretory system of Daniellla resembles that of Copaifera, 

 and probably also that of Eperua. These three genera belong to the 

 same tribe (Arnherstiea?) of Leguminosaj, and are the only members of 

 the order in which, to the author's knowledge, secretory canals have 

 been observed. 



Anatomical Systematic Investigation of Leaf and Axis in the 

 Hippocrateacese.§ — F. E. Fritsch has studied the occurrence of caout- 

 chouc in this family, and at the same time made a comparative investi- 

 gation of the anatomy of the leaf and axis. The caoutchouc occurs in 

 unsegmented, much elongated, often branched cells recalling the latici- 

 ferous elements of Euphorbia, and like these already laid down in the 

 embryo and continuing to grow with the growth of the plant. They 

 occur not only in the vegetative organs but also in the flower, fruit, 

 and seed. In the axis the sacs are found both within the phloem and 

 outside the latter in the primary cortex, and often in the secondary 

 cortex at the limit of the primary. They never occur in the pith. In 

 the leaf-stalk a similar distribution obtains. The sacs were not observed 

 to anastomose. 



; Reproductive. 



Morphology of the Pine-Cone.||— C. E. Bessey, as a result of many 

 years' study cf the young cones of the pines, has been impressed with the 

 essential identity of the cones bearing stamens and ovules respectively, 

 and suggests a corresponding explanation of the much debated ovuli- 

 ferous scale. The megasporangia first appear as rounded cell-masses 

 pushing up from the axillary region at the base of the bract of the young 

 cone ; later this differentiates into scale and ovule, but there is never 



* Malpighia, xv. (1902) pp. 105-74 (7 pis.). 



t Journ. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, xv. pt. iii. (1901) pp. 395-450 (2 pis.). 



J .Jonrn. de Botan., xvi. (1902) pp. (39-97 (19 figs.). 



§ Beiheft. Bot. Centralbl., xi. (1901) pp. SO (1 pi.). 



|| Bot. Gaz.. xxxiii. (1902) pp. 157-9 (I pi.). 



