128 STRUCTURE OF THE 
tab. 3, 4, 5) given a classic account of the development of Aconitum Napellus and 
A. Гусосіопит, explained in 1873 the structure of the tubers of Aconitum Anthora. 
А. Meyer followed eight years later with a most important piper on the anatomy 
and the development of 4. Napellus and other species, among them A. heterophyllum 
and “А. feroz" (evidently my A. spicatum). Не was, so far as I know, the first 
to try whether the anatomical differences of the root-tubers could be utilised for 
purposes of classification, though wit a negative result so far as the “blue flower- 
ing" species were concerned. Since then the anatomy of the roots of various 
Aconites has been treated in a number of papers and textbooks which I need not 
enumerate here, as they generally do not concern the Indian species. The system- 
atists, however, took no notice of these researches, and it was not until 1901 that 
an attempt was made to supplement the definition of the more important Indian 
species of Aconites, so far entirely based on characters derivel from the leaves, 
flowers and fruits, by the description of the anatomical structure of their roots, 
mainly with a view to utilise them for the determination of the tubers obtainable 
in the market. These investigations were carried out by A. Goris of Paris and pub- 
lished in the Bulletin des Ssiences Pharmacologiques, 1901, pp. 102—122, with three 
plates and 34 figs. in the text. Тһе following species—all belonging to the group of . 
Aconites possessing paired biennial roots—were examined :— 1. А. Napellus (= A. 
chasmanthum); 2. А. palmatum; 3. A. Aeterophyllum ; 4 А. feroz var. laciniatum 
(= А. laciniatum); 5. A. feroz var. spicatum ( = А. spicatum); 6. А. feroz var. 
ай'от (= А. dewwrrhizum 2); 7. А. feroz у. ipotyschiza ( = A, Balfouri). Nos. 1, 
4, & 5 were referred to the type JVapeilus (** cambium  sinuous, star-shaped, always 
continuous"); 2 & 3 to the type Aa/hora (“cambium breaking up into 4 isolated 
strands"); and 6 & 7 to the type Айог (‘characterised by a normal central 
cylinder within which a phloem-xylem. ring with inverted orientation із formed"). I 
bave been able to extend the examination of the root-structure of the Indian Aconites 
considerably, and A, Elwesii and А, le'hale are the only species of which I have not 
seen any tubers. Even with this extension, it seems to me that those three types 
may, with slight modifications, be retained, taking in between them all the species of 
the biennial-rooted Aconites of India so far as their tubers are known, However, 
before I show how the species which I describe in the special part under the section 
ХареГиз may be distributed over those three types, it will be necessary to say a 
few words on the general structure of the biennial root-tubers. I do not intend to 
describe here their development, but the condition in the mature tuber a3 it presents 
itself in transverse sections taken from the middle, or, at any rate, not too close to 
either end. This is necessary because the structure of the tubers undergoes some 
modifications as the ends are approached, "x 
АП the tubers are covered by a bark consistin 
without sclerenchymatic elements in the inner zone 
ness according to the Species, although always thin. 
dry, and probably to a lesser degree in the fresh species, 
various shades of brown to almost whitish. Then the endoder 
tuber, consists mainly of 
of the cambium, of 
