Histology of medicinal plantsMansfield, William James
Science
Histology of medicinal plants
Mansfield, William James
Botany, Medical; Plant anatomy
The pores are slanting or strongly oblique (Plate 28, Fig. 2),
and they show for their entire length on the broadest part of the
wall--_i.e._, the upper or the lower surface--while in the side wall
they are oblique; but they are not so distinct as they are on the
broad part of the wall.
Frequently the pores appear crossed when the upper and the lower wall
are in focus, because the pores are spirally arranged, and the pore
on the under wall throws a shadow across the pore on the upper wall,
or _vice versa_.
Wood fibres always occur in a broken condition (Plate 28, Fig. 1) in
powdered drugs. These broken fibres usually occur both singly and in
groups in a given powder.
The color of wood fibres varies greatly in the different medicinal
woods. Fragments of wood are usually adhering to witch-hazel, black
haw, and other medicinal barks. In each of these cases the wood
fibres are nearly colorless. In barberry bark adhering fragments of
wood and the individual fibres are greenish-yellow. The wood fibres
of santalum album are whitish-brown; of quassia, whitish-yellow; of
logwood and santalum rubrum, red.
[Illustration: PLATE 28
WOOD FIBRES
1. White sandalwood (_Santalum album_, L.).
2. Quassia wood (_Picræna excelsa_, [Swartz] Lindl.).
3. Logwood with crystals (_Hæmatoxylon campechianum_, L.).
4. Black haw root (_Viburnum prunifolium_, L.).]
Some wood fibres function as storage cells. In quassia the wood
fibres frequently contain storage starch. The wood fibres of logwood
and red saunders contain coloring substances, which are partially in
the cell cavity and partially in the cell wall.
The walls of wood are composed largely of lignin.
COLLENCHYMA CELLS
=Collenchyma cells= form the principal medicinal tissue of stems of
herbs, petioles of leaves, etc. In certain herbs the collenchyma
forms several of the outer layers of the cortex of the stem. In
motherwort, horehound, and in catnip the collenchyma cells occur
chiefly at the angles of the stem. In motherwort (Plate 29, Fig.
B) there are twelve bundles, one large bundle at each of the four
angles, and two small bundles, one on either side of the large
bundle. In catnip (Plate 29, Fig. A) there are four large masses, one
at each angle of the stem.
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