Betts. — Autecology of Plants of Peridotite Belt, Nelson. 



309 



The upper epidermis consists of rather irregular cells with thickened 

 cell-walls. A thick cuticle is also present. 



Below the epidermis there are 2 rows of large cells with thickened, some- 

 what mucilaginous cell-walls. These do not contain chloroplasts, and they 

 form an aqueous tissue. 



The chlorenchyma is not differentiated into palisade and spongy paren- 

 chyma. It consists of rounded or polygonal cells which contain numerous 

 chloroplasts. 



Fig. 40. — Dianella intermedia. . Transverse, section through lamina of leaf 

 (X 175). a, cuticle; b, hypoderma ; c, stereome; d, lignified 

 sheath ; e, chlorenchyma ; /, aqueous tissue ; fj, xylem ; h, phloem. 



T^he lower epidermis is formed of roundish or oval cells. There is a thick 

 cuticle on this surface also. 



The stomata are confined to the lower surface, and are found in the 

 slight grooves. The guard-cells are small, and are deeply sunken below 

 the surface, and the opening is protected by projections of the cuticle. 

 All the epidermal cells in the grooves have curious peg-like cuticular pro- 

 jections, so that a surface view presents a peculiar appearance. These 

 are shown in surface view in fig. 42, and in transverse section in fig. 43. 



Fig. 40 gives a transverse section through the lamina, not passing 

 through the midrib. The cuticle is much thicker than above the midrib: 

 The upper epidermis consists of regular oblong cells, which are a little 

 larger above the sclerenehyma. 



