| Summary: | Plant gums are the salts of acidic polysaccharides and they arise when plants are injured, either mechanically or by the invasion of fungi or bacteria. In order to throw light on the mode of formation of these gums, several workers have investigated the chemical constitution and molecular structure of the materials. The work described in this thesis is concerned with the chemical constitution of the gums from the white cholla cactus, Opuntia fulgida, and the almond tree. The mode of linkage of the sugar residues present in cholla gum and egg-plum has also been investigated by the usual method of methylation, hydrolysis, and identification of the methylated sugar derivatives produced. The results obtained during the investigations do not allow unique molecular formulae to be proposed for the polysaccharides but certain structural similarities with other plant gums have been observed.
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