1 14 VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY. 



(DH AFTER XIII. 



t 



/OF THE RAPHIDES. 



I DESIGNATE by tlus name, which signifies Needles, 

 very singular bodies which have been discovered within 

 a few years, and the function of which is still very 

 obscure : these are bvindles of hairs or points, of a 

 moderately stiff consistence, which are found either in 

 the internal cavities, or in the intercellular passages of 

 some plants with loose tissue. Sprengel has found them 

 in the cellular tissue of Pij)er magnol'icp folium. Ru- 

 dolphi also points out their existence in Tradescantia 

 and Musa. Kieser has seen them in Calla JEthiopica, 

 Musa sapientum, and Aloe verrucosa. I myself have 

 seen them in Tritoma Uvaria, Littcsa geminijlora, and 

 Crinum latifoUum, and my son has observed them in 

 Nyctago Jalappce, and the common Balsam ( Balsamina 

 hortensis). I am not aware that they have as yet been 

 found in other plants ; but as these belong to two great 

 classes of Vasculares, and to several widely-separated 

 families, it is probable that they will be found in many 

 others : we remark that they are only found in plants of 

 loose tissue. We are as yet too little acquainted with 

 them to describe them otherwise than from examples. 



When a leaf of Tritoma Uvaria (PL 3, fig, 5,) is cut 



