Lily-kin and Rose-kin oF 
we need no microscope to show us its internal 
structure. We see that there is no separable bark, 
and that the woody substance is in delicate threads, 
which are scattered all through the pithy interior, 
but are most numerous toward the outside of the 
stalk. The palmetto trunk is built after the same 
plan, but its woody threads are so tough, and so 
closely massed together, that they make a material 
Fic. 27.—Crosswise section of a palmetto trunk. 
(From the Vegetable World.) 
hard enough to be useful to the cabinet-maker 
(Fig. 27). 
If we could detach a single woody thread from 
the corn-stalk, cut a thin, crosswise slice of it, and 
examine it with a powerful microscope, we should 
see that it is a compact bundle of small filaments, 
and that each filament is a row of short tubes or 
