Remarks on the so-called woody and vascular tissues of ferns / by George Ogilvie.

  • Ogilvie, George.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the so-called woody and vascular tissues of ferns / by George Ogilvie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ON THK SO-CALLED M'OODY AND VASCULAR TISSUES OF FERNS*. In a former communication (Annals, Dec. 1859) I have referred to a common feature in the rhizomes of Ferns, namely, that the vascular bundles form a curious netted cylinder, dividing the cellular matrix of the stem into a central or medullary, and a ' peripheral or cortical region. To the dark-coloured tissue which, in dense woody bands or in some other form, is frequently present in the substance of the stem, constituting one of its most remarkable features, I made only a passing allusion, as I found that its arrangement (unlike that of the vascular tissue) varied so much in different species as to require a more particular examination of its modifications than I was able to undertake at the time. Since then, I have re-examined a considerable number of rhizomes with special reference to the disposition of this tissue, as well as of the vascular bundles. In regard to the former, I have not been able to arrive at any conclusion which could be reduced to the form of a general ex¬ pression. Still I have thought that a short notice of the actual structure and arrangement of the tissues in the species examined i might be worth recording, as I cannot find that any systematic ! observations have yet been made on these pointsf. Considering * Read in part at the Meeting of the British Association at Oxford, June 1860. t My attention has since been directed by the Rev. W. W. Newbould to some ‘ Hints on a new Character in Ferns,’ with illustrative figures, by the Rev. W. A. Leighton (Phytologist, n. s., i. p. 256). The author confines his remarks to the petioles of a few species, and does not alwavs very distinctly state the part of the petiole examined, which may account for some a])parent differences between his description and that here given