In a few cases the hydrom strand is continued into the cortex of the stem as a leaf-trace bundle (the anatomically demonstrable trace of the leaf in the stem).
This bundle is continued down into the cortex of the stem as a leaf-trace, and passing very slowly through the sclernchymatous external cortex and the parenchymatous, starchy internal cortex to join the central cylinder.
In other cases the leaf-gaps are very broad and long, the meristeles separating them being reduced to comparatively slender strands, while there is present in each gap a network of fine vascular threads, some of which run out to the leaf, while others form cross-connections between these leaf-trace strands and also with the main cauline meristeles.
The vascular supply of the leaf (leaf-trace) consists of a single strand only in the haplostelic and some of the more primitive siphonostelic forms. In the microphyllous groups Leaf.trace of Pteridophytes (Lycopodiales and Equisetales) in and Petlolar which the leaves are small relatively to the stem, the Strands, single bundle destined for each leaf is a small strand whose departure causes no disturbance in the cauline stele.
In the haplostelic ferns the leaf-trace appears as a single strand with a tendency to assume the shape of a horseshoe on cross-section, and this type is also found in the more primitive solenostelic types.
