216 LORANTHS. [BOOK i. 



system is separated into bundles surrounded by the cellular 

 system, in this, on the contrary, the cellular system consists 

 of tubular passages, surrounded by masses of the vascular 

 system. 



A very remarkable peculiarity among the order of Loranths 

 is described as follows by Dr. Joseph Hooker, in the Myzo- 

 dendron brachystachyum. " A branch, after attaining the age 

 of two years and upwards, consists principally of a soft white 

 cellular tissue, occupying the axis of the plant, and communi- 

 cating with the thick bark by means of broad medullary rays. 

 The latter are separated by woody plates, disposed in two 

 concentric series, and formed almost entirely of scalariform 

 tissue with sometimes pleurenchyma. The cuticle is very 

 stout in texture : in a first developed branch it consists of 

 only one row of small cells; these must be rapidly added to, 

 for after another year the cuticle of the same branch is of 

 much greater density and formed of many series of cells, 

 much blended together, though not so completely as to 

 assume the appearance of a homogeneous tissue, without any 

 trace of cellularity which it afterwards attains. The cuticle 

 is devoid of stomata commonly so called, but furnished with 

 numerous longitudinal prominences, each marked by a fissure. 

 There is no actual stoma or communication between the 

 external atmosphere and tissue of the bark, further than 

 what may be supposed to be afforded by cellular tissue, which 

 is a rapid conductor of moisture. These are very evident in 

 the branches of the second year, no doubt answer to stomata, 

 whether performing the same functions or no, and are an 

 instance either of the cuticle retaining its originally cellular 

 organisation at the point where they occur, or returning to 

 that structure. 



" The Bark is composed almost entirely of a mass of cellular 

 tissue, shrinking much when the stem is dry. The epiphlceum 

 is formed of several rows of transversely elongated thick- 

 walled cells ; it occasionally contains air-cavities, but these 

 are not so numerous or conspicuous as in M. punctulatum. 

 The vessels of the liber are disposed about half-way between 

 the cuticle and wood, are often very inconspicuous and formed 

 of scattered bundles of fibres, protected by very thick-walled 



