58 TEXTURE OF VEGETABLES. 



form in the language of an interesting writer, " a fine 

 but essential barrier betwixt life and death." Possess- 

 ing in a very inferior degree the properties of organi- 

 zation, and the powers of life, it is frequently the most 

 durable portion of the vegetable structure, and serves 

 to enclose the remains of those organ?, for whose de- 

 fence, when living, it was chiefly designed. 



SECTIOxN 2. 

 CELLULAR INTEGUMENT. 



Immediately beneath the epidermis of leaves and 

 young stems, we find a soft juicy coat which is named 

 cellular integument. It exists in all herbaceous plants, 

 occurs in pulpy fruits, and is particularly conspicuous 

 in the leaves and flowers. In the seed lobes, it is 

 usually white, in the leaves it is green, while in the 

 flowers and fruit it assumes almost every variety of 

 hue. 



The organ in question has been examined with pe- 

 culiar care by Mirbel, and no one else has delineated its 

 structure with so much perspicuity, and minuteness. 

 When divided by a transverse or vertical section it 

 presents an assemblage of hexagonal cells, resembling 

 those of the honey comb, each side being common to 

 two cells, and the whole arranged with the most perfect 

 symmetry. " But if the cells happened to be com- 

 pressed by any foreign force, the hexagon then assumed 

 an elongated appearance. The partitions of the cells 

 were found to be extremely thin and transparent, and 

 their organization too fine to be distinguished even by 

 the highest magnifiers. But they were generally per- 



