DEVELOPMENT OF TULIPA. 



97 



the roots is so far peculiar, that the part of the base of the axis, 

 between the dry sheath (b) which is clothed on the inner side 

 with hairs, and the first fresh sheath protrudes under the place 

 where the young bulb is seated, and that on the inner side of this 

 portion of the axis the numerous roots burst out without perforating 

 the new sheath. 



While the roots are elongating, the contents of the fleshy 

 sheaths, especially on their inner side, are absorbed ; the flower- 

 stem is extended, and the young bulb increases, and at the time 

 of flowering in spring, is proportionally large (Fig. 3, h). If it 



Pig i 



Fig. 3. 

 Tulips Qeaneriana 



is then examined, we find that the outer sheath is clothed on the 

 inner side with distinct diaphanous inarticulate hairs, about a line 

 long, especially where it forms two angles towards the peduncle, 

 and at the base. This sheath or abortive leaf is rather thin, and 

 soon after the plant has blossomed, when the inner sheaths 

 always thicken and become more fleshy, is entirely dried up to a 

 thin skin like the sheaths belonging to the base of the axis of the 

 now withered peduncle. Besides the principal bulb accessory 

 bulbs also occur, whose first leaf is likewise hairy on the inner 

 side in the axils of the first sheath, and of the fleshy ones which 

 lie within it, as also offsets. The bulb in the axil of the 

 penultimate sheath frequently flowers in the same year with the 

 principal bulb ; the others at a later period. 



On the short tolerably broad basal axis we often find five 



