STRUCTURE OF WOOD IN BLUEBERRY AND 
HUCKLEBERRY' 
ESTHER MARGARET FLINT 
(WITH PLATES X, XI) 
According to EaMEs,’? the anatomy of the northern oaks is char- 
acterized by small uniseriate rays, and large ones which are many 
cells in width and generally fusiform in shape. It has been shown 
in this article that the large rays have developed from the aggrega- 
tion of small ones through the transformation of fibers into paren- 
chyma. As evidence he figures the wood of Quercus, especially 
seedlings, to elucidate the broad ray in the process of formation 
by fusion of small rays, and the gradual transformation of the 
separating fibers into parenchymatous elements. A study of the 
material investigated by Eames justifies his conclusion. As a pre- 
liminary to the present investigation, some illustrations of the 
anatomy of a seedling oak have been introduced. Fig. 1 shows 
in tangential view a portion of the wood of the epicotyl of Quercus 
velutina with two characteristic kinds of rays. The broad ray 
in the central part is plainly in the process of formation, the paren- 
chyma cells being interspersed with fibers in all stages of division 
and transformation into parenchyma. Fig. 2 is a transverse 
view of the situation in fig. 1. The broad ray here shows two kinds 
of cells, the dark parenchymatous ones, and the lighter ones which 
represent more or less modified fibers. Fig. 3 shows a view in the 
same plane as fig. 1, but more highly magnified. The manner in 
which the ray becomes solidly parenchymatous is even more 
apparent here, especially at the left of the figure, where we see 
a fiber partially divided into parenchyma cells. 
With this preliminary reference to the anatomy of Quercus, it is 
possible to pass advantageously to the consideration of the anatomy 
of Vaccinium and allied genera, which show interesting and strik- 
* Contribution from the Laboratory of Plant Morphology of Harvard University. 
2 Eames, A. J., On the origin of the broad ray in Quercus. Bot. Gaz. 49:161-167- 
pls. 8, 9. 1910. 
Botanical Gazette, vol. 65] [556 
