310 Blodgett : Vegetative Reproduction 



December the floral parts are all present and well developed in- 

 cluding the ovules and the pollen mother-cells, and the perianth 

 is often tinged with yellow. As the spring advances the bulbs 

 push their sprouts further and further toward the surface, and 

 when the frost is fairly out of the ground the short distance re- 

 maining is quickly passed, and the flowers open while there may 

 still be snow on shaded hillsides. The sprout penetrates the soil 

 in the manner of an awl, piercing leaves and decayed wood which 

 may lie in its path,* rather than growing around, or lifting them. 

 For this awl -like work the sprout is protected by a hard tip, which 

 forms the apex of the leaf when the latter expands. 



In Fig. 22 the successive steps are shown, by which the 

 flower becomes freed from the enclosing leaves, and assumes its 

 nodding position on the pedicel. At the left (a) the sprout has 

 fully penetrated the soil and the leaves have begun to relax their 

 tight clasp upon the bud. The outer and larger leaf expands 

 gradually, while the inner one remains close to the bud as shown 

 at b. Next the two leaves bend downward toward their final posi- 

 tion, the bud still held by the margins of the inner leaf, c. When 

 the leaves have reached nearly their normal position, the bud is 

 released d, and it then stands erect between the leaves, as at e. 

 In a short time the stem begins to bend near the bud, as at/, and 

 as the bud begins to open it has assumed the position shown at £\ 



The last two positions alternate while the plant remains in 

 flower, position/ being assumed on bright days, when the open 

 flower, with strongly recurved petals, is turned upward, returning 

 to the nodding position at night and on less warm or less sunny 

 days. With the fall of the flower the enlarging fruit assumes an 

 erect position upon the stem, which is retained until the whole 

 plant is withered and lies prostrate on the ground ; the ripe seeds 

 remain quite close to the open capsule. 



Erythronium Americanum in its mature development normally 

 bears two unequal leaves and a single flower. During the past 

 two or three seasons a number of unusual cases have been ob- 

 served, in one of which two flowers were borne on an otherwise 

 normal plant. More frequently one leaf only was present in a 

 plant otherwise normal. Over a dozen plants showing the latter 



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*Bessey, C. E., A vegetable Awl, Plant World, 1 : 132. 





