The following code library(Hmisc) x = 1:10 y = x latex(summary(x~y),table.env=FALSE) latex(summary(cbind(x,y)),table.env=FALSE) should produce latex output that is not a table. The second one produces just a tabular, as it should. However, the first one produces a tabular embedded in a table. (This is the effect if you leave table.env=FALSE out).