Branner,] 466 {April 18, 
T will first show how these divisions came about, and then show how 
this effects the whole system of structure. From the points of connection 
with the fronds or spadices, the fibro-vascular bundles branch, one part 
having the immediate external growth (either frond or spadix), developed 
in connection with it, and the other continuing to form part of the stem 
proper above this point.* It will be seen later that these divisions of the 
bundles reach their greatest developement within the stem just at this 
point of branching. Whether it is on this account, or for some other 
reason, whenever a bundle has a frond developed in connection with it, 
the development of the stem branch is retarded. The attenuation of the 
lower extremity of a division, consequent upon this retarded development, 
renders it impossible, in most cases, to trace out the connection between 
the divisions, however carefully one may work. The elimination of the 
harder part of the bundle renders the observation of «he connection still 
more difficult and uncertain.| In cases where this connection has been 
observed, it has been mistaken for blending, { which often occurs, but 
which is quite another matter. Blending may take place in any part of 
a bundle’s course, and may be in almost any direction, while the branch- 
ing I here refer to, always takes pluce somewhere between the point 
where the bundle is tangent to a line parallel with the axis of the stem, 
and the point of insertion of the frond, and is always in the direction of 
the apex of the trunk. Blending may be upwards or downwards or side- 
wise, and may take place in any part of the whole length of the stem, 
It is often observable that just above the point of branching another 
bundle is developed on the inner side of the main division, but this piece 
is not continued as a distinct bundle, but as a part of the principal one. 
Beginning then at the base of a palm trunk, a bundle is traceable into 
a frond, at the base of which it branches; the stem division gradually ap- 
proaches the centre of the stem, and there curves sharply outward to con- 
nect with another frond, and so, curving.in and out, it connects with 
frond scars and spadices from base to apex. 
Let us now consider these two directions of the fibro-vascular bundles : 
the gradual approach toward the centre of the trunk above the point of 
branching, and the comparatively sharp curve outward to connect with 
the external growth. 
Why does a bundle always return to the centre of the stem, instead of 
going in a straight line from one scar to another? 
First: the development of a fibro-vascular bundle is always in the 
*The connection between the divisions is seldom easily found, some species 
show it much more plainly than others. The spectmens in which I have seen it 
most often and most distinctly were of Raphia tedigera, 
+ Von Mohl admits his inability to determine how these small bundles ended 
below. Ray Society, 1849, p. 69. 4 
Duchartre (“fléments de Botanique,” p.179) says: ‘Ilse réduit & état de 
filament délie A son extremité inferieure,”’ 
{ Blending is mentioned by Lestiboudois (V, Literature at end), by Unger, 
and by Von Mohl. Ray Society, 1849, p. 8. 
