210 Barratt. — A Contribution to our Knowledge of the 
way through the tissues of the parent axis. It behaves in fact like a young 
root, from which, of course, it is early distinguishable by the development 
of its first leaf- sheath. 
The vascular tissues originate in the bud quite independently of the 
mother axis. The first indications of a connexion between the parent and 
lateral shoot appear next to the stele "of the parent stem, by the differentiation 
of a hollow tube composed entirely of short wide tracheides with reticulate 
markings (Text-fig. 2). 
The lateral shoot bears at its base a sheath formed from the fused 
bases of the first whorl of leaves, which is commonly spoken of as the 
ochreola. The leaves of this whorl have no vascular strands, as Jeffrey ( 4 ) 
observed; the nodal tracheides make their appearance, however, in the 
appropriate position, and, by the 
differentiation below them of other 
short tracheides, are connected to 
the vascular tube already described, 
which is thus extended to the level 
of the insertion of the ochreola 
Plate VII, Fig. 2). The absence of 
vascular tissue from the ochreola 
of this the first lateral branch of 
the young plant is a feature com- 
mon to all the succeeding branches, 
wherever they may be produced. 
The leaves of the first whorl of every 
branch, whether arising from the , 
^ . rhizomes or from the aerial shoots, 
Text-fig. 7. Transverse section of base 
of secondary axis, showing siphonostele. x 275. have no leaf-traces. On the other 
hand, it may be recalled that the 
leaves of the first whorl of the primary axis do possess a vascular supply, 
but there are indications that it is gradually being suppressed. This is 
notably the case in the leaf adjoining the foot, where the trace is often 
only partially formed and is frequently absent altogether, the only in- 
dication being a protrusion of the endodermis (Text-fig. 2). 
At the level of the ochreola, or a little below it, a third shoot takes its 
origin from a bud on the second axis and develops in a similar way to that 
already described. This bud appears early and grows out through the 
tissues of the parent shoot, and by continuing in a horizontal direction for 
a short distance before turning up above ground it adds its contribution to 
the underground axis. The first aerial shoots are all formed in this way, 
and as a result a short sympodium is built up from their bases (Text-fig. 6 ). 
The structure of the xylem throughout this region consists of a tube of 
reticulate tracheides interrupted at intervals by the attachment of the 
