124 Rev. P. Keith on the Structure of Living Fabrics. 



exhibiting an apt and edifying emblem of the succession of 

 human generations, according to the beautiful remark of the 

 greatest of all poets : 



OiVj vre% (pvAXay y?i/s«j, Toiyh xul dufyuit. 



<t>t/AA« tcc fiiif r oivs t uoc xa.p.a&ic, x--h dt\~\et Zi S' v~\yi 



TviktOouoa. <Pvft, eecgos §' STtyiyi>srcti «Mf 



"£lg dvhi>av yv>i% vj y,%v (pvst, q S' dxo'A^yn. — Homer. Iliad, vi. 146. 



While it exists, however, it forms one of the principal orna- 

 ments of the plant, clothing it with verdure and covering it 

 with grace ; and even in its decay and fall it ceases not to 

 gratify the eye, assuming, by slow degrees, a paler and a milder 

 shade, and tingeing the forest and the plain with an infinite 

 variety of hues. 



TJie Bulb. — The bulb, an appellation borrowed from the 

 Latin term bulbics, a round or bulbous root, — 



Candidas Alcathoi qui mittitur urbe Pelasga 



Bulbus, et ex horto quae venit herba salax, — {Ovid. Art. Am. lib. ii. 42.) 



is a soft succulent substance, of an oval or globular figure, 

 containing the rudiments of a future plant, and situated upon 

 the root, stem, or branch, from which it ultimately and spon- 

 taneously detaches itself, and forms a new individual. If situ- 

 ated upon the root, it is said to be radical ; if upon the stem 

 or branches, it is said to be caulinary. The radical bulb 

 therefore is not a root; but it is, as Linnaeus has well defined 

 it, "the winter quarters of the future plant*," furnished with 

 a root suitable to its peculiar structure; that is, with an appa- 

 ratus of radical fibres issuing from its base. It is solid, as in 

 Crocus sativus; or coated, as in Allium Cepa ; or scaly, as in 

 Lilium candidum. 



The caulinary bulb originates in the axis of the leaves, as in 

 Dentaria bulbijera; or at the base of the umbel of flowers, as 

 in Allium carinatum. In either case it is nourished by the 

 parent plant till it reaches maturity, when the bond of con- 

 nexion is dissolved, and the bulb falls to the ground, endowed 

 with the capacity of striking root in the soil, by sending out 

 fibres from the base, and so converting itself into a new plant. 

 The flowers of bulbous plants have great beauty, — a property 

 of which poets, as well as florists, have always known how to 

 avail themselves. If Anacreon has a wreath or a garland to 

 weave, he is sure to insert into it a due proportion of lilies ; 

 and so are also the modern sons of song. 



"Oqcc, koLv anQoivOHTtv 



"Ottos v^tiru t» T^fvcac, 



'Pohoi;, Koii/a Tr~Kct.KtvTei.~~ Anac> Ode xxxiv. 



Some bulbs are useful as articles of food, or rather as giving 



* Phil. Bot., p. 50. sect. 85. 



