135 



4 x 3^x30" long, and each billet is carefully inspected when 

 cleft before it is accepted on our behalf, but the buds, which are 

 such a striking feature of the spoke sent you, were either not 

 visible on the cleft surface, or they may have been covered over, 

 which seems unlikely, by annular rings without buds. Each 

 billet is carefully stamped with the place of origin and the date, 

 but unfortunately these data were cut off the spoke in question 

 before the peculiar characteristics were noted. "We know that it is 

 English grown, but as we buy from Somerset to Kent, we are 

 unable to locate this particular specimen nearer than that. I should 

 be glad to hear from you what is the cause of v this peculiarity. If 

 you think that the spoke is of any value to you to put in your 

 show case, you are at liberty to keep it. 



Report on Defective Oak Spoke. 



The small "eyes'* in the wood are abnormally broad medullary 

 rays, many of which have split (presumably in drying). In some 

 eases the broad medullary ray encloses a small ring of woody 

 tissue, which surrounds a second medullary ray. The appearance 

 of the wood' may be compared with the " bird's-eye " structure 

 found in stems on which there are " burrs," but in this instance it 

 appears probable, from the structure, that a large conspicuous burr 

 may not have been present, 



■ 



The exact cause cannot be ascertained, but the most probable 

 explanation of the structure is that the enlargement of the 

 medullary rays was connected with the formation of adventitious 

 roots in the bark many years before the tree was felled, the roots 

 remaining quite small, or dying after a short time (v. Borthwick, 

 "Adventitious roots and their relation to bird's-eye formation in 

 the wood of various Trees," Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, 

 Edinburgh, No. XVI., Sept., 1905). Each root would be connected 

 with a broad medullary ray, which would be continued radially 

 in the new wood year after year, causing twisted grain in the 

 adjacent wood. Possibly there may have been adventitious buds 

 instead of roots. It is almost certain that the broad medullary 

 rays must have been present at any rate on one surface of the 

 billet, but in unplaned wood they might be inconspicuous, 

 especially if the splits in them have become more pronounced 

 during storage. 



L. A. B, 



4 



| 



Plants from Labrador— In continuation of the contributions to the 

 Flora of Labrador 

 of Newfoundland 



by Sir William MacGregor, G.C.M.G., Governor 



, published in the Kew Bulletin, 1907, pp. 76-88. 



a further collection of plants has been received at Kew from 



William 



Hettasch 



made at the instance 



of Labrador, 



