230 
ON HELLEBORUS NIGER. 
The radicles of Actaea spicata may be distinguished at a glance, 
not only by the want of any intercellular arrangement between 
the thickly filled cells of the parenchyma of the cortex, but also 
by a peculiarity of the cell-walls themselves, which resemble, in 
this respect, those of many of the Orchidese ; each cell being pro- 
vided with minute, obliquely directed, interlacing fibres ; these, 
if the fecula be removed by means of a small hair pencil, are 
easily recognized. The central body, consisting of bundles of 
vessels arranged in a wide net work, accompanied on the ex- 
ternal side by thin-walled parenchyma cells, is marked with from 
3 — 5 deep, and obtusely wedge-shaped rays. Upon a smooth 
oblique section this form of medulla may be observed with the 
unassisted eye. 
The radicles of Astrantia major have a dark brown epidermis, 
surrounded by obtusely conical, occasionally elongate glandules, 
consisting of a single cell. The parenchyma cells of the cortex 
are filled with rather large, rounded fecula granules, which are 
covered with a resinous matter ; from this originates the brown- 
ish color of the cortical layer, which may easily be perceived in 
a recent fracture. The obtusely five-cornered medullary portion 
encloses a pith similar to the parenchyma of the cortical layer, 
and a net work of vessels, accompanied by thin-walled elongate 
cells. 
Finally, an oblique section of the radicles of Helleborus foeti- 
dus shows a broad cortical stratum of regularly disposed paren- 
chyma, which, in the root taken up in June, contains no fecula, 
and but little intercellular matter ; it is distinctly separated 
from the central portion by darker colored, somewhat con- 
tracted cells. The rounded, obtusely cornered medullary body 
contains no pith in the radicles, but is made up of thick walled 
wood-cells, and vessels of a stellate appearance, the peculiar 
form of which has already been described and figured by M. 
Schleiden. The inner wall of these vessels is covered by two 
differently formed layers ; the exterior consisting of a very close 
net-work, while the interior, on the contrary, is furnished with 
2 — 3 rows of very wide pores. As the external vessels are not 
unfrequently merely marked by the net-work, it would appear, 
as in the wood of the linden, that the porous layer is the younger. 
— Central Blatt, of Feb. 4, 1852, from Archiv. der Pharm. 
