216 



DEVELOPMENT OF 



leaves are no longer concealed by them, in which case the posi- 

 tion of the leaves as indicated above is not so easily visible. 



Immediately above the fifth leaf the axis at the time of flowering 

 is extremely thickened, and on this tubcriform body stands the 

 triangular peduncle clothed only with a few bracts. A line through 

 the greatest diameter of this tube, if produced, passes on the one 

 side through the medial line of the second and fourth, and on the 



Fig-. 1. 

 Lipaiis Loeselil. 



ather through that of the third and fifth leaf, and since the middle 

 nerve of the fourth and fifth projects externally like a keel, the base 

 of the young plant appears broadly compressed. In the usual case, 

 in which the internodes are not developed, the plant of this year 

 is closely applied to last year's tuber, and consequently the larger 

 diameter of the first is not in the same direction with that of the 

 last, but at right angles to each other. The more the internodes 

 are extended (and they measure together sometimes an inch) the 

 farther the lower leaves are separated from the upper, and the 

 young tuber from that of the previous year, the less marked is 

 this relation of the young plant to the old tuber. 



In the axil formed by the fifth leaf with the young tuber there 

 is a little hollow in the latter containing the young ovate rather 

 broadly compressed bud, which is to produce leaves and flowers the 



