GENUS ANEMONE. 



868 



STARCHES OF ANEMONACE^E. 



PS CI PA c* 

 ~ PC PS 



Class, Dicotyledones. Order, Ranales. Family, Anemonaceae. 

 Genus represented. Anemone. 



GENUS ANEMONE. 



The family Aiiemonacem includes the genera Anemone and Thaliclrum or meadow rue. Anem- 

 one includes about 85 species of bulbous-rooted hardy perennials, natives of the cool climates of 

 the Northern Hemisphere, for the most part of the Old World, many of which are well-known 

 garden plants. Starches from four species were examined: A. apennina Linn., a native of Italy; 

 A.fitlgens Gay (.4. pavonia var. fulgens DeCand.), a native of France, and sometimes referred to as 

 a variety of A. hortensis Linn.; A. blanda Schott and Kotschy, a native of the Taurus Mountains 

 and Greece and closely related to A. apennina; and A. japonica Sieb. and Zucc, a native of China 

 and Japan, and one of the finest members of the genus. 



STARCH OF ANEMONE APENNINA. (Plate 94, figs. 561 and 562. Chart 369.) 



Histological Characteristics. — In form the grains are simple and without pressure facets. There 

 are no aggregates or compound grains, but the grains often occur in clumps which may easily be 

 broken up. The surface of the grains is somewhat irregular, owing to few additions to the surface in 

 the form of nipple-like processes. As a rule, the grains are rounded and quite regular in outline. 

 They are usually elongated either in the longitudinal or transverse diameter. The most conspicuous 

 forms are elongated ovoid, oval, elliptical, elliptical with one side flattened, and triangular with 

 relatively very broad base; also broad ovoid, spindle-shaped, oval, round or nearly round, and 

 various indefinite forms, due chiefly to nipple-like proc- 

 esses. The grains are sometimes slightly bent at the 

 middle. They are not flattened, but may be narrower 

 at the distal end than at the other, or thicker in the 

 middle than at the ends. 



The hilum is large and fairly distinct, and there is 

 throughout its whole extent a depression on the surface 

 of the grain. It may be a round spot, eccentric about 

 one-third of the longitudinal axis, or it may have an 

 elongated, lenticular form and run the length of either 

 the longitudinal or transverse axis of the grain. The 

 hilum is not always visible. It is at times distinctly fis- 

 sured, but not often. From the reaction to chemical 

 reagents the elongated hilum appears to consist in reality 

 of double and triple hila. 



The lamelke are invisible. 



The grains vary in size from 2 to lifi. The dimen- 

 sions of an average triangular grain is 9 by 5/* in length 

 and width. The common size is lO/j. 



Polariscopic Properties. — The figure is not always 

 distinct, but if so it is clear-cut and usually irregular. It may be eccentric or centric and may be 

 in the form of a cross or a long line with bisected ends as in the beans. It is usually quite regular 

 in form, but the lines may be somewhat bent and otherwise distorted. 



The degree of polarization is low in most grains, but is high in a few very large grains. 



With selenite the quadrants are fairly well defined, irregular in shape, and usually unequal in 

 size. The colors, except in the rare very large grains, are not pure. 



Iodine Reactions. — With 0.25 per cent Lugol's solution the grains are colored very deeply at 

 once and the color quickly deepens until they are almost black; with 0.125 per cent solution the 

 grains color at once and deepen rapidly. The color is bluish-violet. After heating in water until 

 the grains are completely gelatinized, the solution is colored lightly and the grains very deeply 

 upon the addition of iodine. After boiUng for 2 minutes the solution is deeply stained, but the 



Curve of Reaction-Intensities of Starch of Anemone 

 apennina. 



