134 



SCLERENCHYMA. 



cavity of the fibres is a continuous hollow, though it is very narrow, and often ceases 

 far from the pointed ends. In the narrow contractions in the Asclepiadeae and Apo- 

 cyneae it may, it is true, be doubted whether it is not sometimes completely inter- 

 rupted by the thickening of the walls. But on the other hand chambered fibres are 

 often to be found, i.e. such as are cut up into segments or chambers by relatively thin 

 transverse walls continuous with the inner layers of the lateral walls : e.g. in the bast 

 of^sculusHippocastanum, in the cortex of roots of Palms, as Chamaedorea elegans. 

 Also the chambered fibres in the bast of Vitis, Platanus, Pelargonium roseum, 

 Tamarix gallica ^, in the cortex of Aristolochia Sipho, &c., which contain starch for a 

 time, should perhaps be connected with the above, as cases in which the functions 

 of the cell slowly disappear ; the same may be said of the fibres produced from col- 

 lenchyma, which are common in the cortex of stems. 



The chambered elements of the secondary wood of the Dicotyledons, which are 

 also connected with the above, will be spoken of in Chap. XIV. 



' Compare Sanio, Ueber die im Winter Starke fiihreijden Zellen, &c. (Halle, 1858), p. 12; Botan. 

 Zeitg. 1863, p. III. 



