— 217 — 



lo BuNGE (Rel. Lehm. p. 62) other forms occur in which the 

 branching is only slight. The year-shools arising from the 

 persistent parts may be branched, but generally this does 

 not seem to be the case. They are numerous and slender, 

 and bear small, lanceolate leaves which attain a length of 

 1 — 2 centimetres, bright green in colour and containing many 

 lysigenous oil-reservoirs. 



The yellow flowers appear in July or August. The fruit 

 has few loculi and a few seeds in each loculus. 



The leaf is isolateral in structure. The epidermis con- 

 sists of one layer with a thick outer wall and the stomata 

 slightly sunk. There are about three layers of palisade cells 

 on each side and a narrow middle zone of rounded cells. 

 This zone includes many tracheids ("Speichertracheiiden") 

 besides the veins which both above and below have a sheath 

 of rather thin-walled, non-lignified bast. There are many 

 lysigenous oil-reservoirs measuring in diameter more than 

 half the thickness of the leaf. 



The green cortex has a thick-walled epidermis of two 

 layers overlying 3 or 4 layers of short palisade cells limited 

 towards the interior by a layer of thin-walled, tangentially 

 extended cells which may be regarded as collecting sheath. 

 Many bundles of bast occur in the inner cortex. 



Stellera Lessertii (Wickstr.) C. A. M. 



An undershrub 20 — 50 centimetres in height and occur- 

 ring in the clay-desert. It is much branched and numerous 

 dead branches are found; whole branch-systems may die off 

 leaving short dry sticks projecting in all directions. New 

 branches are formed from branches of the previous shoot- 

 generation and also from old branches. The year-shoots bear 

 branches the same year, often 2 — 3; these are unbranched, with 

 long internodes, and they all terminate — if sulficiently long 

 lived — in an inflorescence. This is a short, simple spike, 

 and the small yellow flowers appear in July. The fruit is a 

 pear-shaped nut about 4 mm. long, it is surrounded by the 

 lower strongly woolly-haired part of the perianth. 



The leaf is hairy, narrow and small, almost elliptical- 



