THE KANSAS UNIVERSITY 

 SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



Vol. VJI, No. 17] JUNE, 1913. [v„""xv.rNoT; 



STUDIES ON THE ANATOMY OF ALFALFA. 



{Medicago sativa L.) 



BY ORVILLE T. WILSON. 

 Plates LV-LIX. 



iNTRODUCTION. 



DURING the summer session of 1911 and the college sem- 

 esters 1911-'12, the writer was engaged in graduate 

 work at the University of Kansas. Considerable time 

 was spent during that period in working out the structures of 

 alfalfa, under the personal direction of Prof. W. C. Stevens. 

 The results of these studies are embodied in the following 

 pages. 



LABORATORY METHODS EMPLOYED. 

 The methods employed in the studies were mainly those 

 described in Stevens's Plant Anatomy. The bleaching and 

 staining of the leaf were done in accordance with directions b:, 

 Mr. L. M. Peace in the Plant World of April, 1910. Free-hand 

 sections of material, both fresh and preserved in formalin, 

 paraffine sections in various stains, and macerated sections 

 were used in studying the tissues. The drawings were most 

 frequently made with a camera lucida attachment, but in some 

 cases a projection lantern was used in drawing. When it, 

 seemed desirable for the sake of clearness, drawings were 

 somewhat conventionalized. 



THE ROOT. 

 The root of alfalfa is usually a tap root, the main axis pene- 

 trating to a depth of six to twelve feet, sometimes twenty or 

 more feet. In some cases the tap root branches a short distance 



Received for publication Mav 29, 1913. 



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