66 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



down and varnished on the outside. Such plants as retain 

 their leaves have a thick epidermis or grow in places where 

 they receive protection from surrounding objects. The rosette 

 habit in plants like the mullein and thistle secure some protec- 

 tion from dead vegetation and fallen leaves, and from the 

 covering of snow. We commonly think of the annual plants 

 as dead, during winter, but they have simply retreated into 

 their hibemacula which we are familiar with as a seed. Here 

 snugly protected by the hard seed-coat, they await the spring. 

 In regions subject to long drouths many of the forms of pro- 

 tection here mentioned are common and show clearly the sim- 

 ilarity between cold and drouth. 



Vegetative Reproduction. — A correspondent, recalling 

 the curious growths in the axils of the tiger-lily leaves, asks 

 for an account of the ways in which lilies reproduce vegetative- 

 ly. The subject is large enough to form an entire chapter in 

 botanical text, but some of the most interesting features may 

 be touched upon here and no better illustrations of them 

 could be found than in the lily alliance. At the beginning it 

 may be said that most forms of vegetative multiplication are 

 simply modified or transformed branches. One of the simplest 

 forms is found in the Solomon's-seal where two kinds of 

 branches are produced. One goes up annually from the root- 

 stock to the light and air while others spread about in the soil 

 until finally the decay of the older parts make them separate 

 plants. In the trillium we find the rootstock shortened into a 

 corm. In the corms of crocus or gladiolus there are no real 

 branches, but in the places from which branches should grow 

 we find bud-like objects called cormels. Since a bud is simply 

 an undeveloped branch, we see these cormels are really other 

 forms of branches. Proceeding to bulbs the whole under- 

 ground part is very bud-like, but in the axils of the scales we 

 find smaller buds or bulblets which readily grow into new 



