On the Structure and Function of the Septal 
Glands in Kniphofia. 
BY 
E. R. SAUNDERS, 
Newnham College , Cambridge. 
With Plate III. 
A MONG the more recent additions to the literature which 
deals with the subject of septal glands in plants may 
be mentioned the papers of Grassmann 1 and Acton 2 . 
Grassmann’s work gives an account of the general structure 
and distribution of septal glands, while Acton is chiefly con- 
cerned with the question of sugar-formation in the gland- 
cells. The wider subject of floral nectaries is treated of in 
the earlier papers of Bonnier 3 and Behrens 4 , but none of 
these observers includes in his account a detailed description 
of the minute structure of the secretory cells. It was sug- 
gested to me that careful histological examination of these 
cells might reveal the existence of interesting relations between 
their structure and their manifestation of secretory activity. 
I therefore made a preliminary examination of the septal 
glands of various species of Kniphofia , Gladiolus , Narcissus , 
Agave , and Polygonatum , and was led to select the first of 
these plants as being the most suitable for investigation. The 
ovary is of small size in this genus, but this drawback is more 
than counterbalanced by the following obvious advantages : 
(i) the amount of nectar secreted is considerable ; a fully open 
1 Flora, 1884. 2 Annals of Botany, 1888. 
3 Ann. des. Sci. Nat. 1878-79. 4 Flora, 1879. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. V. No. XVII. December 1890.] 
