Studies in the Morphology and Anatomy of the 
Ophioglossaceae. 
III. On the Anatomy and Branching of the Rhizome of 
^ Helminthostachys zeylanica. 
BY 
WILLIAM H. LANG, F.R.S., 
Barker Professor of Cryptogamic Botany in the University of Manchester. 
With Plates I-III and eight Figures in the Text. 
I N the first of these studies 1 the morphology and anatomy of the rhizome 
of Botrychium lunaria was re-examined, and the anatomical relations of 
branches to the main axis was described. The corresponding facts for 
Helminthostachys will be dealt with in this paper. Our knowledge of this 
plant is fairly full and complete, but only the previous work on the rhizome 
and the anatomy of the stele and leaf-trace need be referred to here. Our 
chief source of information on these points is the account given by Farmer 
and Freeman 2 . In their paper the general morphology of the rhizome, its 
stelar structure, and the nature of the vascular supply to the roots and 
leaves are all described and figured. Reference is also made to the occur¬ 
rence of branches, arising as ‘ adventitious buds ’ on older portions of the 
rhizome, and often springing from decorticated fragments, but no details of 
the branching are given. To the description of the rhizome given by these 
investigators, Gwynne-Vaughan 3 added the recognition and description of 
vestigial or rudimentary axillary buds, one of which is constantly present 
in relation to each leaf. The anatomy of young plants attached to prothalli 
was briefly described by myself 4 and has been further dealt with by 
Campbell . 5 Some features of the leaf-trace have been described by 
Bertrand and Cornaille 6 and by Sinnott . 7 Preliminary accounts of some 
of the facts to be described below have been published in the Proceedings 
of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society . 8 
1 Ann. of Bot., xxvii (1913), p. 203. 2 Ann. of Bot., xiii (1899), p. 421. 
3 Ann. of Bot., xvi (1902), p. 170. 
4 Ann. of Bot., xvi (1902), p. 41. 5 The Eusporangiatae (Washington, 1911). 
6 Travaux et Memoires de l’Universitd de Lille, tome x, mem. 29. 
7 Ann. of Bot., xxv (1911), p. 168, PI. XI, Fig. 13. 8 Vol. lvi, Pt. 2 (19T2), 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXIX. No. CXIII. January, 1915.] 
B 
