Prof. G. Gulliver on Raphides and other Crystals. 407 



diflFerence exists throughout the whole of these orders seems so 

 unlikely, that nothing short of a complete examination of them 

 would be sufficient to establish the truth of this question. 

 Meanwhile it may be added that I have found this raphidian 

 diagnosis never-failing, so far a§ regards three species of Mesem- 

 bryese and ten of Crassulacese and Cactacese, being all the plants 

 of these orders growing in my garden and in the windows of 

 the neighbouring town. A satisfactory examination of the 

 other sections of Ficoidese would be very interesting. In dried 

 fragments of Tetragonia, Aizoon, and Sesuvium I saw no ra- 

 phides. 



Rubiacece. — The following officinal articles were obtained, by 

 the kindness of Mr. Ward, from the most authentic sources : — 

 Root of Cepha'elis Ipecacuanha ; five sorts of Cinchona-bark, to 

 wit, Red, Yellow, Yellow Petago, Pale, Yellow Carthagena; 

 berries of East-Indian, Plantation, and Mocha Coffee. After 

 careful examinations, no raphides were found in any of these, 

 except in the Ipecacuanha : this root contained a few raphides ; 

 and they were seen more plentifully in a fresh leaf of the plant, 

 kindly sent by Mr, Moore, the excellent Curator of Chelsea 

 Gardens. The officinal root was remarkable (especially its outer 

 fleshy part) for an abundance of starch ; in the central woody 

 part were many long cells full of starch-granules, and it was 

 chiefly made up of dotted ducts, like those of Galium Mollugo. 

 Of the Cinchonae, the pale was the only one consisting of all the 

 layers of the bark, and it contained more starch than the others. 

 Mr. Moore also favoured me with leaves of Coffea arabica and 

 Cinchona calisaya, in neither of which could raphides be found ; 

 nor in a twig of Cinchona micrantha, kindly sent, with other 

 contributions towards this inquiry, by Mr. Baxter. 



In the British Flora, we have before shown that Rubiacese, 

 consisting entirely of herbaceous species, stands as a raphis- 

 bearing order closely surrounded by orders devoid of this func- 

 tion ; while of eight exotic plants, of the section CinchonaccEe, 

 raphides abound in two herbaceous species, and could not be 

 found at all in six woody ones, though sphieraphides in Ixion 

 and Gardenia are numerous and beautiful. Subsequently, I 

 have examined a few species, both native and foreign, belonging 

 to the three orders standing, in Prof. Balfour's * Manual,' on 

 either side of Rubiacese, and failed to find raphides in any one 

 of these plants, among which were fragments of six species of 

 the order Loranthacese and two of Calyceracese, obligingly sup- 

 plied, in compliance with my request, by the eminent botanist 

 Dr. Hooker. Thus the presence of raphides in the herbaceous 

 species and their absence from the woody ones further appear ; 

 and hence arises, in this wide and novel subject of the value of 



