LYTHRACEZ. 47 
cells; below these,a confused conical diaphragm separates the 
lower and smaller half, which in its turnis divided into 4 or 5 irre- 
gular cells. Each cell is filled with a large number of grains, 
crowded on thick spongy placentz, which in the upper cells are 
parietal but in the lower appear to be central. The grains, 
which are about 3} an inch in length, are oblong or obconical 
and many-sided, and consist of a thin transparent vesicle, con- 
taining an acid, saecharine, red juicy pulp surrounding an 
elongated angular seed. 
The peel as imported is in irregular, more or less concave 
fragments, some of which have the toothed, tubular calyx still 
enclosing the stamens and style. It is y to #5 of an inch 
thick, easily breaking with a short corky fracture; externally 
itis rather rough, of a yellowish brown or reddish colour. In- 
ternally it is more or Jess brown or yellow, and honeycombed 
with depressions left by the seeds. It has hardly any odour, 
_ but has a strongly astringent taste. The bark occurs in rather 
_ thin quills or fragments, 3 to 4 inches long. Their outer sur- 
face is yellowish grey, sometimes marked with fine longitudinal 
striations or reticulated wrinkles, but more often furrowed by 
bands of cork, running together in the thickest pieces into broad 
t conchoidal scales, The inner surface, which is smooth or 
_ marked with fine strie, and is of a greyish yellow, has often 
_ strips of the tough whitish wood attached to it. The bark 
7 breaks short and granular; it has a purely astringent taste, but 
' scarcely any odour. (Pharmacographia.) 
: Microscopic structure.—The middle layer of the peel consists 
_ of large thin-walled and elongated, sometimes even branched, 
_ cells, among which occur thick-walled cells and fibro-vascular 
bundles, Both the outer and the inner surface are made up of 
smaller, nearly cubic and densely-packed cells. Small starch 
