52 THE VEGETABLE CELL IN GENERAL. 



is present. Usually all the grape-sugar is extracted in a day 

 or two. 



2. The sugars. Grape-sugar has been just referred to as 

 giving the same reaction as dextrin with Trommer's test. Its 

 formula is G^^f)^. Cane-sugar, which has the formula CjjH^jO,,, 

 gives no red precipitate with the same test, but the liquid in the 

 cells becomes bright blue, and quickly diffuses into the potassa.* 



185. Crystals are of such general occui'rence in widely differ- 

 ent orders of the higher plants, that there are perhaps none 

 in which the}' ma}' not be detected. The}' have been found in 

 nearly all parts of the vegetable structure, more commonly in 

 the interior of parenchyma cells, sometimes in specialized crys- 

 tal-receptacles, occasionally in the very substance of the cell- 

 wall. They occur either singly or in groups ; either separate or 

 barely coherent, or in various degi-ees of combination. 



When solitary and simple the}- are usually octabedra or 

 prisms, and their aggregations are combinations of these. Good 

 octahedral crystals are afforded by the petioles of Begonia ; 

 examples of the prismatic form are found in the outer scales of 

 onions, in-orange leaves, in the inner bark of maples and apple- 

 trees, and in most of the tissues of Iris and its allies. 



When the prisms are very long and slender their angles and 

 faces are seldom well defined.^ Indeed, the most attenuated 

 forms are usually terete, or slightly flattened, and taper gradually 

 to a point at both ends. To these De CandoUe long ago gave 

 the name Maphides, — that is, needles.^ These are generally 

 massed in a compact bundle, like a wheat-sheaf, occupying a 

 large part of the interior of the containing cell. 



Raphides are by no means of such general occurrence as 

 are ordinary crystals, but (as Gulliver has pointed out) are 

 seemingly restricted to certain orders.* The}- are universal in 

 Araceae and Onagracese. In the common Arums and Callas, 

 raphides-bearing cells may readily be found in the parenchyma 



1 Pringsheim's Jahrb., iil. p. 187. In the Sitzungsber. d. k. Akad. Wien, 

 foi' 1859, Sachs has given colored figures illustrative of these reactions. 



2 When the longer prisms are clearly defined, they are referable to the mono- 

 elinie system. Measurements of angles are given by Holzner, in Flora, 1864, 

 p. 292. A paper by Bailey (Am. Journ. of So. and Arts, vol. xlviii., 1846, 

 p. 17) also contains determinations. 



' Organographie, 1827, p. 125. 



* Gulliver has examined representative plants of all the more important 

 orders of the British Flora, with respect to the occurrence of diagnostic crys- 

 tals (Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 1863 to 1867). 



