PRATT: CYCLOLOMA ATRIPLICIFOLIUM. 109 



crystals in the secondary medullary rays and pericycle cells in 

 the zones of thin-walled anomalous tissue (designated as phloem 

 zones in this article). When sections mounted in distilled water 

 on a slide were irrigated with a drop of hydrochloric acid, the 

 crystals disappeared in several seconds without effervescence, in- 

 dicating the presence of calcium oxalate. Jost ('08) states, many 

 plants normally containing calcium oxalate have only a small 

 amount or none present, when presented with not more than the 

 indispensable minimum of Ca(N03)2, according to Amar; or if 

 presented with nitric acid in the form of an ammonium salt, ac- 

 cording to Beneck. It is of interest to note here that Politis (fide 

 Experiment Station Record, '12) draws the following conclusions 

 from his research work on the origin and office of oxalate of lime 

 in plants: "Oxalic acid, with its resulting calcium oxalate, has 

 its origin in the cell in which the salt is found in crystalline form, 

 and the acid is formed by oxidation of glycogen or amyloids." 



Free-hand sections over one cell in thickness were tested for 

 alkaloids, and sections soaked in an alkaloid solvent (one part of 

 tartaric acid dissolved in twenty parts of alcohol for twenty-four 

 hours and rinsed in distilled water for twenty-four hours were 

 used as a control. No precipitate formed in sections mounted 

 in potassium iodide-iodine, potassium permanganate, or am- 

 monium molybdate. Sections were treated with picric acid and 

 tannic acid, as suggested by Winterstein and Trier ('10), but no 

 precipitate formed. No characteristic color developed with nitric 

 acid or sulphuric acid to indicate the presence of alkaloids. No 

 precipitations or color reactions occurred in the control sections 

 treated with tartaric alcohol, nor was there any marked indication 

 that cell contents had been dissolved out. 



The Root. 



Tests were made on the sections of the root as on the sections 

 of the stem. Globules in the cells of the epidermis and primary 

 cortex dissolved out in xylene or chloroform, and the globules of 

 other sections stained red in Sudan III and pink in alcannin. The 

 globules did not give a test for saponifying oil nor resin. A slight 

 amount of reducing sugar was found in the cells of the pericycle, 

 the phloem and xylem parenchyma of the primary vascular bun- 

 dles, and the secondary medullary rays and phloem of the anoma- 

 lous tissue. The presence of protein was indicated in the cell con- 

 tents of the phloem of the primary vascular bundles and the 

 phloem of the anomalous tissue by the red stain with Millon's 



