SECT. II 



THANEROGAMIA 



541 



foliage leaves expand their long, channelled, dark green lamina above the*soil ; 

 their sheathing portions closely surround the axis. The latter bears the fruits, 

 which contain numerous, spherical, black seeds ; these are liberated by the 

 dehiscence of the capsule at the sutures. The aerial shoot then dies, the leaf- 

 sheaths surrounding the new corm, which bears a lateral bud (") in the axil of its 

 first foliage leaf ; this bud was already evident in the preceding season. Veratrum 

 album is a conspicuous herb with a rosette of large, elliptical, longitudinally folded 

 leaves. The growth of the main axis is terminated by an inflorescence, which is a 

 panicle more than a metre in height ; the leaves borne on it have long sheaths 

 and diminish in size from below upwards. The greenish -white flowers are 



FKJ. 541. Dracaena draco. The dragon tree of Lacuna in tht- Canary Islands. 

 (From CHUN, Aus den Tiefen des Weltmeeres.) 



polygamous, i.e. partly hermaphrodite and partly unisexual ; the ovary bears three 

 widely-spreading styles. 



Such popular flowers as Tulipa (Fig. 25), Hyacinthus, Lilium, Muscari, and 

 Scilla, and vegetables as Allium, together with Urginea (Fig. 539), which occurs 

 in the Mediterranean region, belong, on the other hand, to the Lilieae. Ornitho- 

 galum umbcllatum (Fig. 538) will serve as an example of this group. In autumn 

 the plant consists of a bulb, each of the fleshy scales of which has a scar at the 

 upper end ; numerous roots spring from the base of the bulb. The bulb-scales are 

 more or less grown together. In the axil of the innermost scale is the stalk of the 

 spent inflorescence together with a young bud bearing a number of leaves. Each 

 of these leaves is provided with an embryonic lamina, while the continuation of 

 the shoot is the embryonic inflorescence. In spring the leaves grow into long, 

 linear structures, and, together with the inflorescence, appear above ground. The 

 inflorescence is sparingly branched ; the white flowers have a trilocular ovary 



