TYPE 9. GRAINS SIMPLE, ECCENTRIC, ROD-SHAPED. 229 



lamellae, hilum, and fissures. Length to 30/i, width to 25/1, thickness to 7 and 8//. The struc- 

 ture of these grains is doubtful. No hilum was plainly discovered after the grain had been 

 roasted to a yellowish color, boiled in water, and treated with sulphuric acid. Several times, 

 however, Niigeli thought he detected a small cavity near the narrow end. He states that 

 if the grains belong here, the hilum must have a very eccentric position. 



Carina gigantea Desf.; Carina indica, Linn. {Cannacece.) Dry seed. — Grains scale-like, rounded-oval 

 to elongated, usually more or less irregular, often with crenate margin; one-third to as 

 broad as long; very strongly compressed; usually homogeneous, without lamella?, cavity, or 

 fissures, but occasionally with one or more refractive bands in the median line. Length about 

 18 to 2\ti, thickness L5 to 2/i. The fresh grains of Canna indica are like those just described, 

 somewhat undulating at the margins, entirely homogeneous. Length about 21/i, thickness 

 3 to 4ju. Nothing can be seen of a hilum in the fresh or dried starch-grains. After slight 

 roasting, a small rounded cavity or gas-bubble very near one end is occasionally observed. 

 This is probably the position of the hilum, the eccentricity of which is one-sixth and over. 

 Nevertheless this description is not wholly safe, since sometimes in grains more thoroughly 

 roasted two, three, or four such hollow spaces may be observed. (See also p. 227.) 



Maranla ramosissima Wall. (Marantacece.) Dry seed. — Grains rounded-oval to oblong, frequently 

 somewhat broader towards one end, mostly more or less irregular and tuberculated ; two- 

 thirds to almost as broad as long; the broader ones compressed to about one-third of their 

 width (about 3 or 4 times as long as thick), from the narrow aspect frequently with a delicate 

 longitudinal slit; almost homogeneous. Length about 16/n, breadth about lO/u, thickness 3 

 to 4 /<. Niigeli states that he places these grains here, in which neither lamellae nor hilum arc 

 visible, on account of their analogy with the canna. Among these are found a few distinctly 

 compound grains with numerous coalesced components, similar to those of Maranla sp. 

 (see type 12). It is uncertain whether the indented forms are not accidentally compound; 

 from the narrow longitudinal aspect many of these same forms are also slightly torulose. 



Type 9. Grains Simple, Eccentric, Rod-shaped. 



Lamellie coarser and more numerous on one side, finer and less numerous on the diametrically 

 opposite one. Grains mostly elongated, terete, or somewhat compressed; at both ends of almost 

 equal breadth and thickness. On drying, fissures are observed radiating from the hilum, chiefly in 

 the direction of the longitudinal axis. In the terete grains two longitudinal shts are noticeable, 

 sometimes crossing each other at right angles; in those which are compressed there is a slit which 

 coincides with the greatest plane. There are many transition forms to the conical (type 7), and to 

 the inverted-conical (type 6). 



Angiopteris. {Maratiiacece.) Stems of leaves (fronds). — According to Harting (Rech. sur. I'anat. 

 rOrganogenis et I'Histiogenia du genre Angiopteris, plate vii, 8, 9), the grains are oval to 

 cylindrical, the longer ones 4 times as long as broad; distinct, incomplete, lamellae; hilum 

 very eccentric; the hilum end occasionally narrowed, but more frequently somewhat broader 

 than the distal end. Length about 70/*. 



Hemerocallis fulva Linn. (Liliaceae.) Fresh root-stocks. — Grains usually elongated-oval, 1.5 to 2.5 

 times as long as broad; the hilum end somewhat smaller, and almost circular in transverse 

 section, the distal end rather broader and compressed; no lamellae; hilum about one-sixth 

 to one-eighth eccentric. Length about 25/i. These forms resemble the cuneiform type. 



Tamus communis Linn. {Dioscoreacece.) Dry root-stock. — Grains of very varied and very irregular 

 shape, rounded to elongated-conical, and rod-shape; about 6 times as long as thick; the 

 broader ones somewhat compressed; lamellae usually distinct, delicate, and numerous; 

 hilum often invisible, can sometimes be recognized by means of a small cavity; hilum end 

 frequently thickened; the distal end of equal width or even (in the oval and rounded-tri- 

 angular grains) broadened and squared. Length about 52/j. This type is not well pronounced. 

 There are many transitional forms to the cuneiform type (type 8). Among these are grains 

 with an internal ladder-hke system of coarse lamellae. Furthermore, there are semi-com- 

 pound grains with two inner large components, and compound grains of two to four compo- 

 nents. Moreover, the grains in the course of solution exhibit very diverse and peculiar 

 forms. 



