COLCHICUM AUTUMNALE. 109 



The internode between the second and third leaf is often 

 elongated to the extent of from two to three inches, as also the 

 canal beneath the medial nerve of the second leaf. The bud at 

 the base of the canal is unaltered, but the cushion behind it is 

 thickened, though not so much as the lower internode, and forms 

 a little rather obscure lateral appendage. The bud which is 

 sometimes found in the axil of the third leaf is generally abortive. 

 The other internodes between the leaves in whose axils the fruit 

 is seated remain very short. 



When the fruit is ripe the following parts die off; — the whole 

 axis with its leaves down to the internode between the first and 

 second leaf which forms the conn ; of the internodes between 

 the second and third leaves, there remains only the part behind 

 the bud which formed the cushion, which gives rise to an appen- 

 dage, one line broad and three lines long, in a hollow on the 

 swollen margin of the new conn. The roots also die off; the 

 long tall sheath of the lowest leaf, whose lamina is soon withered, 

 changes into a brown rather thick and coriaceous membrane, 

 which involves the whole plant. The cuticle on the inner side of 

 this sheath adheres generally so firmly to the new corm, that 

 when the sheath is removed, it remains attached to the corm 

 in the form of a thick brown membrane. 



The new corm attains its full size in the course of the summer, 

 and compresses that of the former autumn, whose contents are 

 completely exhausted, and whose cuticle changes into a very 

 delicate membrane, which easily shells off, but which resists a 

 long time complete decomposition, as is also the case with the 

 brown sheath attached to it. The bud in the axil of the lower 

 leaf, after being so long dormant, increases rather rapidly. The 

 roots arising from the base of the axis at first inclosed in a thin 

 membrane, whose point of insertion is only separated by a very 

 narrow line from that of the first sheath (h), break forth, rupturing 

 ibe membrane which is still present when the plant flowers, as 

 well as the base of the sheath of the lowest leaf of the last year's 

 plant, and the top of the second longer sheath (i) projects from the 

 outermost sheath which has hitherto inclosed the whole bud, from 

 which at a later period the blossoms also protrude. 



The bud in the axil of the second leaf is frequently abortive, or 

 developed only at a much later period. Frequently, however, it 

 is developed at the same time with that in the axil of the lower 

 leaf, without however producing flowers After the destruction 

 of the corm on whose margin it is seated, it loses all organic 



