CROCUS VEKNUS. 117 



though short internode ; the internodes are, however, shorter again 

 between the leaves themselves. 



At a later period, when the blossom is past, the sheaths and 

 leaves die as well as the peduncle. The lower portions of the 

 former compose the coats of the corm ; those of the leaves serve 

 less as a covering to the corm than to the young buds in their 

 axils, which have now become larger. The old corm at length 

 entirely withers away. 



At present the evolution of the blossom-bearing plant alone has 

 been represented ; there are, however, some peculiarities in the buds 

 (Fig. 2, e, e) which stand in the axils of the lower dry leaves of 

 the last year's corm. They are situated, as is also the case in 

 Colchicum autumnale, somewhat higher than the point of insertion 

 of their parent leaves. They have also like the principal buds 

 many sheaths (b', c', d', e', Fig. 1), which commonly inclose two or 

 three leaves (f). The uppermost leaf incloses a little terminal 

 bud. On the development of the leaves of those buds, roots 

 frequently arise from their axils. At a very early period, before 

 the leaves extend above the sheatbs, we observe a round greenish 

 swelling in the axil of the second sheath. This soon perforates 

 the back of the second sheath, and is found to be a root. It is, 

 however, distinguished in most cases from the normal roots, which 

 spring forth at the base of last year's corm, by its thicker and 

 more tuberous form from the time of its first appearance, while 

 the true roots are filiform and of equal dimensions. This root 

 (Fig. 1, i) increases as the bud increases, so as to resemble a little 

 beet- root, or a small tuberous root of Oxalis tetraphylla. It is 

 juicy within, and consequently rather brittle. When the bud has 

 acquired its full evolution, the root is also fully formed, and when 

 the leaves die and fall off, it also perishes. It has not the function 

 of a reservoir of nutriment, but is merely a transitory formation. 

 In many buds none are produced, in others two or more, in which 

 case they resemble the ordinary fibres. In general they are less 

 common in the principal bud (Fig. I, g, h). Sometimes the 

 middle of the last year's corm is perforated by one of these roots, 

 which appears again at the base. 



The corm on which the flower-stem of the present year arises 

 is in this case a metamorphosis of the base of the axis of the last 

 year's plant, or in other words the base of the axis of the present 

 year is a storehouse of nutriment for the year following, exactly 

 as in Arum. In Crocus the bases of the leaves remain, and 

 involve the corm and the buds which spring from it, whereas in 



