SAPINDAOË^. 381 



secondary and tertiary woody bodies, all united by a common bark 

 surrounding them. The general appearance of these secondary and 

 tertiary wooden bodies has led the greater number of authors to 

 consider them as branches springing from the stem, and instead of 

 being totally separated from it remaining united with it for a certain 

 length. For this interpretation to be adopted without dispute, it 

 would be necessary to show that the structm-e of each of these woody 

 bodies is exactly the same on a smaller scale as that of the principal 

 woody body. There has also been accorded them, in several 

 works, a pith proper, itself enveloped in a medullary sheath sur- 

 rounded by trachea, few in number, it is true. M. N^geli ' has proved 

 the existence of these vessels and of a central pith, but this is, in 

 his eyes, only secondary, and it is easy to mistake them, the cellules 

 composing it often having thick walls and resembling woody fibres, in 

 the transverse section.^ This author also supposes that in the stalk 

 of the climbing Sapindaceœ, the formation of cambium is not every- 

 where simultaneous, so that there remains outside portions distinct 

 internally, which may form subsequently, and on the spot, peri- 

 pheric and secondary woody bodies. Perhaps the ulterior appear- 

 ance of the latter and theii' close adherence for a great length to 

 the principal woody zone may be explained by the phenomena of 

 drawing up of the lateral branches, of which we see so many examples 

 in the allied families and in the whole vegetable kingdom. There 

 are cases, however, where this explanation is no more satisfactory 

 than that proposed earlier ; and L. Netto,^ who is the last 

 who has given his opinion on the subject, has pointed out cases in 

 which it would be totally inapplicable. According to him a Serjania^ 

 such as cuspidata, has triangular stems when young, bearing leaves 

 on their three faces ; and later on, they possess a central woody body, 

 provided with a pith, and three peripheric bodies whose appearance 

 is simultaneous, or even a little anterior to its own. Also, in S. 

 Domheijana there are peripheric woody bodies in considerable num- 

 ber ; they appear at tlie same time as the central body, and it is 

 outside them that, long afterwards, the tertiary woody bodies show 

 themselves. There are Sapindacece whose stem contains but a single 

 woody body the first year, and it is only in the second year that, in 



' Dickeiiivachst. d. Steng... hi (Un Sapiiidac. '■' Duchtre, £lém. 170, fig. 82, 83. 



Munich. (1854) in-S, tab. ^ In Ann. So. Nat. sér. 4, xx. 167. 



