213 Prof. G. Gulliver on Raphides. 



XXV.— Observations on Raphides, 



By George Gulliver, F.R.S. 



[Continued from p. 121.] 



Historical Notice of Raphides as Natural Characters. — All the 

 microscopic crystals of plants have been too commonly in- 

 cluded under the name of raphides, and true raphides have long 

 been known in the different classes of Phanerogamia. Thus it 

 IS stated, either in our most comprehensive botanical treatises 

 or special essays, that raphides abound in such Dicotyledones as 

 Urticacese, Cactacese, Geraniacese, and the roots of Umbelliferse, 

 and in " Monocotyledones generally,''' of which Aracese and the 

 *' sepals of Orchidacea)'' are cited as particular examples ; while 

 even Schleiden asserts that the needle-formed crystals, in bundles 

 of from twenty to thirty in a single cell, are present in almost all 

 plants, and that inorganic crystals are seldom met with in cells in 

 a full state of vitality. Hence such a vague impression has arisen 

 that raphides occur either with much frequency and irregularity, 

 or in connexion with the decay of the plant, that the attainment of 

 the truth becomes hopeless without a careful attention to the con- 

 text in books and a more earnest appeal to the reality in nature 

 than has yet been made. Notwithstanding the detached drawings 

 and descriptions of raphides among pollen and other parts of some 

 plants, from the time of the artist Bauer to the recent analysis 

 of the raphides in the ovary of Richardia by Maclagan, even the 

 fact (often shown in the course of the present observations) of 

 the constancy and universality of raphides through the greater 

 part of the healthy frame, from the seed-leaves and young buds 

 to the ovule and ripe fruit, of certain species has not been recog- 

 nized in our botanical treatises. No wonder, then, that the value 

 of raphides as natural characters has never been realized, and 

 that we find them neglected, both in the short diagnoses and 

 longer descriptions, in the latest systematic works of such 

 eminent botanists as Lindley, the Hookers, Balfour, Babington, 

 and others. But it may be hoped that more general attention 

 will soon be given to the subject ; for it is so very extensive 

 that I have been able to do little more than show its importance. 



Recurring to the orders above mentioned, quoted by authors 

 as affording raphides, if we examine such given specific exam- 

 ples as may be seen in the last edition of the excellent ' Micro- 

 graphic Dictionary,' we shall soon learn that in the two latter 

 orders only are true raphides shown, and sphseraphides merely 

 in the other orders. Thus one source of ambiguity will be dis- 

 pelled, while we realize a regular and characteristic difi'erence 

 between the plants in question, shown by those very crystals 

 which have all been included under the same name. And we 

 shall soon see more light by the assistance of nature. 



