86 
HISTOLOGY OF VEGETABLES. 
between the interlacements of the fibres where these 
are most distinct. The co-existence of large pores 
with a well- developed spiral fibre is best seen in a 
section of the Norfolk Island pine, Araucaria excelsa , 
(Fig. 76) a tree, which in its own climate, often attains 
the enormous height of two hundred feet. The nature 
of the pores, or glands as they have been termed, of the 
woody fibres of the Conifers has long been a matter of 
dispute. 
The foregoing illustrations have been taken from 
compact woods, but in certain palms the woody fibres 
are so hard and stiff, and the bundles so easily separated 
that they are employed for making brushes. The larger 
and coarser bundles are made into brushes for sweeping 
the streets, while the smaller are used for scrubbing and 
other lighter purposes. 
In a section of the stem of the cocoa-nut palm, the 
bundles of woody tissue are of a brown colour, and form 
the spots seen upon the surface ; the surrounding tex- 
ture being so compact as to bind them firmly together. 
A transverse section of one of these bundles affords 
a striking example of the interior of a woody tube 
almost entirely filled up by dense secondary deposit, 
and accounts for the strength of the individual fibres. 
In many light woods, especially one from China, the 
name of which I have not been able to obtain, but 
which from its softness, is employed as a substitute for 
cork in the lining of insect boxes, the woody fibres are 
short, of rather large diameter, and, instead of being 
