356 
SUMMARY OP CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
— a digestive function and one of protecting the seeds while in the pro- 
cess of development from injury by ovipositing insects. 
Alocasia macrorrhiza and some other Aroideae present a somewhat 
similar structure in the lower part of the spathe. 
Phyllodes.* * * § — Prof. G. L. Goodale proposes to extend the use of the 
term phyllode, in accordance with the practice of some, hut not of all 
writers, to all flattened petioles where there is a great reduction or 
entire abortion of the lamina, whether the surface of the petiole be 
horizontal or vertical. The so-called phyllodes of some species of 
Eucalyptus are true leaves, the lamina of which has assumed a vertical 
position from a twist of the leaf-stalk. Prof. Goodale suggests that the 
vertical position, whether of phyllode or of lamina, may be regarded as 
a permanent sleep-position, occurring only in shrubs or trees growing in 
very exposed situations or in a very dry climate, and serving to protect 
the foliage from excessive radiation. 
Bracts. I — From a comparative examination of the bracts of plants 
belonging to a large number of different families, Herr F. Schmidt 
comes to the conclusion that they do not form a single morphological 
group, but are sometimes laminae of leaves, with or without petiole, some- 
times leaf-sheaths, sometimes stipules, sometimes of no definite morpho- 
logical character. From a physiological point of view they are leaves 
which subtend flowers, and are designed either as protecting organs, or 
to co-operate with the petals, or as organs for the protection or the disse- 
mination of the fruit. Bracts may be divided morphologically into two 
groups — those belonging to plants the leaves of which have neither 
leaf-sheath nor stipule, and those in which the leaves possess one or 
other of these accessory organs. In the first category the bracts cor- 
respond to the sheath or stipule, in the second to the lamina of the leaf. 
Foliar Verticels of Spergula.f — M. W. Russell describes the arrange- 
ment of the leaves in Spergula arvensis, and states that the leaves are 
really opposite, but the presence at their axes of short leafy branches 
gives them a verticillate appearance. 
Anatomy of Bud-scales. § — Dr. C. R. G. Schumann gives a general 
account of the structure of the bud-scales in Conifers and woody Dico- 
tyledons. They serve a double purpose — as a protection to young 
buds against external injury, and as a contrivance for mechanical 
strengthening. For the latter purpose they are often strongly cuticu- 
larized, and contain collenchymatons and sclerenchymatous elements ; 
the latter, in the cases of Camellia and Magnolia^ in the form of numerous 
“ stone-cells.” They are usually entirely destitute of stomates. Their 
number and thickness vary greatly, the former from four in Sorhus 
aucuparia to as many as 350 in Finns austriaca. Their aestivation or 
relative position with respect to one another is also very variable. In 
some bulbs, as, for example, those of South American species of Oxalis^ 
the outer scales are modified so as to serve the purpose of bud-scales, 
* Amer. Journ. Sci., xxxviii. (1889) pp. 495-7. 
t ‘ Beitr. z. Kenntniss d. Hochblatter,’ Berlin, 1889, 4to, 28 pp. and 2 pis. See 
Bot. Centralbl., xli. (1890) p. 185. 
X Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xxxvi. (1889) pp. 424-5. 
§ Haenlein u. Luerssen’s Biblioth. Bot., Heft 15, 1889, 36 pp. and 5 pis. 
