The Value of the Smear Method for Plant Cytology

The smear method of plant cytology as described by Taylor, presented difficulties in obtaining an adequate stain with the iron-alum haematoxylin combination. The writer has largely avoided those difficulties by curtailing the times of mordanting and of staining. The smear method has been applied by the writer in the study of microsporogenesis in the monocotyledonous genera Tradescantia and Rhoeo and in the dicotyledonous genus Podophyllum. Due to the rapidity with which permanent preparations can be completed by the smear method, there is presented a valuable means for securing a more critical evaluation of the available preservatives.