i8o 



FLOWER-LAND. 



and 159, where the fibre-vascular bundles are some 

 distance apart, showing the fundamental tissue be- 

 tween them, which in an older and more woody stem 

 forms the medullary rays of Fig. 157. 



There is much more that is very interesting about 

 the wood, but I must hasten on to tell you a little 

 more about the bark or cortex* 



So let us go back to Fig. 157, and take up again 

 the little branch you were looking at just now. In 

 the portion you peeled off 

 from the wood you have those 

 parts of the fibro-vascular 

 bundles which are outside the 

 cambium. Can you tell me 

 what they are called ? Yes ! 

 they are called "the bast," and 

 they form the inner -or secondary 



Fig. 159. Cross section of bark or cortex (Fig. 157, ph, b). 



Though never hardening 

 into wood, they cease to grow, 

 take a permanent form, and 

 are more or less tough. It is 

 often very useful. I dare say 



you know it very well as the bast, often from the 

 lime tree, which gardeners use for tying up their 

 plants. So, again, the bast of the hemp and flax 

 plants is so much used for making string and linen, 



stem of dicotyledon at end 

 of first year. a, pith ; 

 c, woody tissue, with 

 vessels ; d, cambium cells ; 

 c, bast cells ; fg, outer 

 bark. 



* From the Latin " cortex," the rind or bark. 



