190 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



Solereder describes the anatomical features of the family 

 to which the plant belongs, the Malpighiace«. It seems to be 

 an inconspicuous family. He mentions three characteristics 

 of the family, which are the following : No internal secretory 

 cells ; the subsidiary cells of the stoma run parallel to the pores 

 of the stoma ; and the unicellular trichomes. While all of these 

 were noticed in our Janusia, the last seemed to be the most 

 important, as it appears to take part in collecting of water, as 

 will later be shown. It would not seem at all unreasonable 

 that if a plant had to modify any of its parts to adapt itself to 

 its environment, it would modify those parts most char- 

 acteristic of it. In this plant that is what has evidently taken 

 place, for, as we shall see, the trichome is not a typical Mal- 

 pighian hair, which is so characteristic of the family. 



The root was not worked, as none of it was collected. The 

 stem and leaves were collected in July, just after the rainy 

 season had begun, which extends over July and August. The 

 leaves were well developed, but not old. It would be of interest 

 to study the leaf in the bud to get the plan of the development 

 of the trichome. This was not done, as proper material was 

 not to be had at the time when the plant was worked. No 

 description of the species has been found in the literature to 

 which the writer has had access. The literature cited will be 

 general in character. 



METHOD OF PROCEDURE. 



The work was begun by cutting free-hand sections and 

 staining with c. z. i. and phloroglucin. By these means it was 

 determined concerning the parts lignified, cutinized, and 

 suberized. 



Hydrochloric and acetic acids were used for the determina- 

 tion of the chemical composition of the crystals found in the 

 phloem and in the leaf. Chloride of iron was used for the de- 

 termination of the tannins, which were found in great abun- 

 dance in both the .stem and leaves. 



The stems were softened by soaking them in concentrated 

 hydrofluoric acid for ten weeks. A description of this method 

 is found in the Botanical Gazette (vol. 37, year 1904, by Amon 

 B. Plowman). He recommends the use of a 10 per cent solu- 

 tion of the hydrofluoric acid. In this work the concentrated 

 solution seemed to do the work and leave the tissue of the 

 plant in perfect condition. 



