64 DIFFERENTIATION AND SPECIFICITY OF STARCHES. 



found cellulin bodies in Siphoncce, and Denniston (Trans. Wisconsin Acad. Sciences, vVrts 

 and Letters, 1904, xv, ()()4) studied them in Snprolegnia. Denniston found that they, 

 like the outer layer of starch-grains, show a strong affinity for orange-G aniline, in contra- 

 distinction to the inner part of the grain, or the granulose, which shows a correspondingly 

 strong affinity for methyl violet. He regards these bodies as being made up of a substance 

 that is intermediate in character in the synthesis and analysis of starch. (See Denniston, 

 pages 56 and 57.) Related to these bodies are spherical granules found by Weber van 

 Bosse (Ann. Jard. bot. de. Buitenzorg., 1892, viii, 165) in Phytophysa treubii. These 

 granules do not yield a reaction "uath the iodine-potassium iodide solution, but they become 

 blue in the presence of iotiine-zinc chloride, and violet on the addition of iodine-sulphuric 

 acid. Bodies in the form of U or V shaped cups, hollow cones, and hollow cylinders, 

 known as fibrosin bodies, were discovered by Zopf (Ber. d. d. botan. Gesellsch., 1887, 275) 

 in several Erysiphece. They do not yield a color reaction with either the iodine-potassium 

 iodide or iodine-zinc chloride solutions. 



Some forms of cellulose are in the nature of a food reserve, and bear a close relationship 

 to starch in this respect, and also chemically. Like starch, they yield sugars upon decompo- 

 sition in the presence of dilute acid or appropriate enzymes, the cellulose-reducing enzymes 

 being designated cytases. (See Brown and Morris (Jour. Chem. Soc. Trans., 1890, lvii, 458), 

 Schulze (Zeit. f. physiol. Chemie, 1890, xiv, 227, and 1892, xvi, 387), Newcombe (Annals of 

 Botany, 1899, xiii, 49), and Heruaaey (Revue d. bot., 1903, xv, 345).) Phajtophycean starch, 

 paramylum bodies, cellulin bodies, and fibrosin bodies are doubtless closer relatives of cellu- 

 lose than of starch. Some forms of plant mucus and cellulose give a blue reaction with iodine. 



THE CHIEF FORMS AND CLASSIFICATIONS OF STARCH-GRAINS. 



It must have been recognized by Leeuwenhoek, and by many of the investigators 

 of the earliest part of the last century, that starches from different sources are not mor- 

 phologically identical, but if so it does not seem to have attracted any jaarticular atten- 

 tion until the investigations of Fritzsche (Ann. d. Physik. u. Chemie, 1834, xxxii, 129), 

 although Payen and Meyen and others examined a number of different starches. Fritzsche 

 desciibed the starches obtained from a variety of plants, including Solarium tuberosum, Cos- 

 tus speciosus, Tulipa gesneriana, Fritillaria jneleagris, Lilium bulbiferum, Amaryllis formosis- 

 sinia, Bromelia sp., Hyadnlhus oricntalis, Iris Jlorcntina, Ixia crocala, Narcissus poeticus, 

 Crocus vernus, Colchicum autumnale, Bulbocodium vermwi, Gladiolus communis, Arum 

 dracunculus, Pisum sativum, Canna edulis, Hedychium flavescens, and H. hirsutum. He 

 noted not only that the starches from different sources were different, but also that often 

 the form was so characteristic as to determine the plant, or, at least, indicate the genus 

 and family from which the specimen was obtained. This statement was confirmed some 

 years later by Schleiden (Principles of Botany, 1849, 14), who examined a number of 

 starches, mostly not described by Fritzsche. From the differences observed he was enabled 

 to tabulate the various forms, and he published a classification that has continued to be 

 quoted in various standard works, even at the present time. 



Schleiden's Classification of Starch-Gbains. 



\. Amorphous Starch. Amorphous starch was found in only two phanerogamous plants, it occur- 

 ring paste-like in the cells, as in the seeds of Cardamomum mimis and in the 

 bark of Smilax ornata (Jamaica sarsaparilla). In the case of the latter it is 

 not improl)able that the method of drying by the fire, common in the prep- 

 aration of sarsaparilla, may change the character of the starch. The paste 

 is most frequently found in abnormally red roots, and less frequently in the 

 yellow roots, neither of which have hitherto been esteemed in commerce 

 as varieties of the Jamaica sarsaparilla. 



