14G PEOF. E. J. HAEVEY-GIBSO.\ ON THE MORPHOLOGY 



then the first rhizomes of the plant, whichever it is, under investigation, to be gathered 

 are those on which the present observations have been made. 



The rhizome is usually, as I am informed, parasitic on the roots of a Trotea, and the 

 material in my possession shows rhizomes in several stages of development. 



A fully adult rhizome has the appearance of a very nodular, irregular mass, about 

 40 mm. in diameter, closely investing the root of the host. Such a rhizome is figured in 

 PI. .15. fig. 1, while fig. 2 shows younger rhizomes in various stages of development, one 

 of them beginning to give origin to two erect flowering shoots. 



Anatomically, the rhizome is covered with a layer of irregular thickness composed of 

 cutinised cells without intercellular spaces, forming a superficial cork. The main mass 

 of the rhizome is composed of fairly large parenchymatous cells, the majority of which 

 contain a substance which I at first presumed to be related in chemical composition to 

 the resinous material described as " balanophorin " by Goeppert (Verh. K. Leop.-Car, 

 Akad. d. Nat. vol. xviii.) in Balauophora. Cells containing this deposit are scattered all 

 through the rhizome, but are specially abundant in the cortex and mixed with the 

 vascular tissue (figs. 5 & 6). An attempt was made to determine the chemical nature 

 of the brown deposit, which amounts to about 50 per cent, by weight of the dried 

 rhizome, but only negative results were obtained. Since the substance is insoluble in 

 ether, alcohol, and benzene, and does not burn readily, it may be concluded that it is 



ther 



It is unaffected by boiling in water and the solution g 



reducing-sugar tests. The possibility of its being a glucoside is excluded by the fact 

 that it is insoluble after boiling for three minutes in dilute sulphuric acid. It gives 

 none of the reactions of protein. It is not affected by strong sulphuric acid in the cold, 

 but the powdered rhizome gives, on standing, a vigorous reaction to Molisch's test. One 



is thus forced to the conclusion that it has relations with the carbohydrates. It gives no 

 reaction to iodine nor to iodine and sulphuric acid. It cannot be a simple carbohydrate, 

 but is probably a peculiar carbohydrate of the cellulose group. The Molisch test when 

 repeated under the microscope was not entirely satisfactory, for the substance took on 

 not a violet but a deep red-brown colour. Unfortunately, the amount of tissue at my 

 disposal was too limited to permit of a detailed quantitative analysis. For convenience 

 I shall speak of the substance in the course of this paper as " mystrin," for if Goeppert 

 and Poleck's determination of the corresponding substance in Balanopliora as a wax or 

 resin be correct it is certainly not " balanophorin." 



It was found to be quite impossible to determine any definite arrangement of vascular 

 bundles in the rhizome owing to its extremely wrinkled and irregular form. Bundles of 

 short tracheids with reticulate thickenings, almost verging on spiral, wander irregularly 

 through the ground parenchyma. These strands are accompanied, usually, but not 

 always, by elongated elements obviously with sieve-tube characters. Many of the 

 tracheids may be described as scalarif orm, although Solereder (' Systematic Anatomy of 

 Dicotyledons,* vol. ii. p. 739) doubts the presence of such elements in the Balanophoracese, 

 although this is asserted by Eichler. Pig. 5 shows such " scalariform " tracheids mingled 



