354 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MAY 
with occasional scattered sieve tubes and parenchyma cells. All 
these strands—the two produced by the splitting of the ring of 
xylem about the leaf trace, the strands which arise in the pericycle 
of one of those, and the tangled mass which is both accessory and 
pericyclic in origin—fuse to form the branch stele (fig. 6, H). Hence 
the vascular supply of the branch consists of (1) centripetal second- 
ary xylem, (2) accessory secondary xylem, and (3) primary and 
secondary pericyclic xylem. 
In other cases, numerous scattered tracheids appear in the pith 
below the point of separation of the leaf trace (fig. 9). As the trace 
leaves the stele, some of these swing out with it and contribute to 
the vascular supply of the branch. In such cases, there is not the 
slightest evidence of an internal cambium. Primary centripetal 
xylem of this kind occurs in the vascular supply of five of the nine 
branches, while abundant centripetal secondary wood is present in 
the other four. 
It is not necessary to describe in detail the vascular connections 
of the other branches. Accessory secondary wood usually forms a 
considerable part of the supply and is present in every case. In 
six of the nine branches, wings of xylem form between the leaf and 
the trace and the stele, as in B. ramosum; in the other three such 
formations are entirely lacking. Xylem of pericyclic origin makes 
up a part of the connection in five cases; in three of these a 
definite cambium is present. The accessory secondary wood 
is the only formation which occurs in all the nine cases of this 
species. 
The significance of the wide variation in the vascular supply of 
the branches will be discussed later. 
WOUND REACTIONS 
JEFFREY (7) has put forward the view that traumatic reactions 
are apt to be reversionary in character. Bower (1) and Lanc (9) 
have used this view in their contention that the pith of the Ophio- 
glossaceae is stelar in character. In the examination of branching 
specimens of Botrychium, especially of B. obliguum, some further 
data upon the nature of the wound reactions of this genus have 
been secured. 
