GENUS ZEPHYRANTHES. 



641 



Chart No. 2 1 5. 



IGV 

 S 



VH VD 6a" 



PS CI PA I 

 ~ PC PS 



or angular projections and slight depressions. The conspicuous forms are the ovoid to spherical and 

 oval to elliptical. There are also quadrangular with rounded angles, lenticular, triangular, and 

 pyriform. The grains are about one-half to two-thirds as thick as they are broad. 



The hilum is not distinct. It is a small, round or rarely lenticular spot, usually eccentric 

 one-third to two-fifths of the longitudinal axis. There are rarely double hila. The hilum is 

 seldom fissured, and the fissure is usually single, narrow, shallow, and short, and may be clean-cut 

 or ragged. 



The lamellce are generally very indistinct. In the few grains in which they could be detected 

 they were seen only near the hilum. They appeared as fairly coarse, regular, continuous rings, 

 circular to elliptical. Their number could not be determined satisfactorily. 



The grains vary in size from 4 to 40/i. The common size is 26m. 



Polariscopic Properties.— The figure is eccentric, distinct, irregular, and not clear-cut. Its 

 lines are usually blurred, often somewhat bent or otherwise distorted, and placed at varying angles 

 to one another. Large areas, especially centrally, may 

 be dark. 



The degree of polarization is fairly high. It varies 

 much in different grains (being low in some grains and 

 high in others), also in different aspects of the same grain 

 and in different parts of the same aspect of a grain. It 

 is not so high as that of the grains of Z. Candida. 



With selenite the quadrants are not well defined, are 

 irregular in shape, and unequal in size. The colors are, 

 on the whole, fairly pure. 



Iodine Reactions. — With 0.25 per cent Lugol's solu- 

 tion the grains color a deep blue- violet; with 0.125 per 

 cent solution they color fairly and the color deepens 

 rather rapidly. The color is not so deep as that of the 

 grains of Z. Candida. After heating in water until the 

 grains are completely gelatinized, both the solution and 

 the grains color fairly deeply on the addition of iodine. 

 With a slight excess of iodine the capsules color a red- 

 violet. After boiling for 2 minutes the solution colors 

 deeply and the grain-residues lightly or not at all. The 

 capsules color a red-violet with a slight excess of iodine, 

 starch at the proximal end. 



Staining Reactions. — With gentian violet and with safranin the grains begin to stain lightly at 

 once and in 30 minutes are lightly stained. The color is a little deeper than that of the grains of 

 Z. Candida. 



Temperature Reaction. — The temperature of gelatinization is 75° to 77° C, mean 76°. 



Effects of Various Reagents. — With chloral hydrate-iodiyie reaction begins in most grains in 2,]/2 

 minutes. About one-third are gelatinized in 20 minutes, two-thirds in 26 minutes, and four-fifths 

 in 1J4 hours. The reaction is the same qualitatively as that of the grains of Z. Candida. 



Reaction with chromic acid begins in all the grains in IJ^ minutes and is over in 6 minutes. 

 It is qualitatively the same as that of the grains of Z. Candida. 



The reaction with pyrogallic acid begins in all the grains in \]/^ minutes, and two-thirds are 

 partially and one-third completely gelatinized in 7 minutes. About two-thirds are completely 

 gelatinized in 12 minutes, four-fifths in 25 minutes, and nearly all in 30 minutes. The reaction is 

 qualitatively the same as that of the grains of Z. Candida. 



The reaction with ferric chloride begins in a few grains in a minute. About two-thirds are 

 gelatinized in 18 minutes and all in 50 minutes. The reaction is the same qualitatively as that 

 of the grains of Z. Candida. 



With Purdy's solution the reaction begins in most grains in IJ^ minutes, yet very few are even 

 partially gelatinized at the end of 30 minutes. The reaction is the same qualitatively as that of the 

 grains of Z. Candida. 



Curve of Reaction-Intensities of Starch of 

 Zephyranthes rosea. 



Some of the capsiiles retain blue-reacting 



