On the Vascular Anatomy of the Young Epicotyl 
in some Ranalean Forms. 
BY 
KATHLEEN B. BLACKBURN, 
Lecturer in Botany , Southlands Training College. 
With Plate XIII and nineteen Figures in the Text. 
T HE present paper is an account of some work which has been carried 
out at Bedford College under the direction of Dr. Thomas. It forms 
part of a series of investigations into the anatomy of the axis in seedling 
Dicotyledons, and in particular into that of the epicotyl. 
In Ranalean forms the anatomical features of the mature axis have 
been studied from various points of view by numerous workers, notably 
by Marie , 1 by members of the Liege School , 2 and by Worsdell , 3 but the 
beginnings of vascular development in the seedling epicotyl have received 
far less attention. 
The ‘ Contributions a l’anatomie des Renonculacees \ published by the 
Liege School, comprise monographs on certain Ranunculaceous genera 
( Clematis , Delphinium, Thalictrum , and Ranunculus arvensis), in which 
detailed accounts of the plumular anatomy are included. 
In his work on the ‘ Morphology of the Central Cylinder in Angio- 
sperms ’ Professor Jeffrey 4 describes and figures early stages of the vascular 
structure in young stems of members of the families Nymphaeaceae and 
Ranunculaceae ( Ranunculus and Anemone spp.). 
Professor Gwynne-Vaughan 5 has described early stages of members of 
1 Marie, P. : Recherches sur la Structure des Renonculacees. Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., tome xx, 
1884. 
2 Contributions a l’anatomie des Renonculacees : 
Nihoul, E. : Ranunculus arvensis. Mem. pub. par l’Acad. Roy. de Belgique, Brux., tome liij 
1892. 
Lenfant, C. : Le Genre Delphinium. Mem. Soc. Roy. des Sciences de Liege, ser. 2, t. xix, 1897. 
Mansion, A. : Le Genre Thalictrum. Mem. Soc. Roy. des Sciences de Liege, ser. 2, t. xx, 1898. 
Sterckx, R. : La Tribu des Clematidees. M^m. Soc. Roy. des Sciences de Liege, ser. 2, t. xx, 1898. 
3 Worsdell : A Study of the Vascular System in certain Orders of the Ranales. Ann. of Bot., 
vol. xxii, October, 1908. 
4 Jeffrey : The Morphology of the Central Cylinder in Angiosperms, Trans. Canad. Inst., 
vol. vi, Toronto, 1889. 
6 Gwynne-Vaughan, D. T. : On some Points in Morphology and Anatomy of Nymphaeaceae. 
Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. v, pt. 7, 1897. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXXI. No. CXXI. January, 1917.3 
