24 



SOUTH INDIAN GRASSES 



Another stem in which the vascular bundles are more or less 

 peripheral in position and enclosing a wide parenchyma is that of 

 Setaria glauca. In the transverse section of the stem the outline is 



Fig. 30. — Transverse section of a jiortion of the stem of Setaria glauca. * 50 

 1. Epidermis : 2. sclerenchvma ; 3. vascular bundle. 



ovate, laterally compressed, obtusely keeled at the back and 

 somewhat concave in the front. The sclerenchymatous band is 

 narrow and continuous and very close to the epidermis being 

 separated from it only by two or three layers of thin-walled cells. 

 The epidermal cells alone are thickened. As to the vascular 



Fi<;. 31. — Transverse section of the stem of Panicum ramosuni. -< 24 



bundles there are three sets. One set of bundles lying just outside 

 the sclerenchymatous ring consists of small ones connecting the 

 ring with the epidermis. Just inside the sclerenchymatous ring 

 lies a series of bundles which are connected with it. Still inside, at 

 some distance from the sclerenchymatous band, are seen vascular 

 bundles forming a row and enclosing a large space of the ground 

 tissue consisting of only parenchyma. (See figs. 29 and 30.) 



