journal 



of ti^e 



Horticultural ^octetp of i^eto ©orb 



INCORPORATED I9O2 



Vol. II, No. 1 6 qS, FEBRUARY, 1918 By s.i>s.mJn7X7Zr 



OBSERVATIONS ON TULIPS. II 



I. Abnormal and Premature Development 



Abnormal and premature growth of tulips occurs when the new 

 bulbs developing about the base of a flowering stalk immediately 

 produce green leaves that protrude above ground. The general 

 appearance of various grades or types of such development is 

 shown in accompanying plates: No. i shows the four green 

 leaves which developed from the largest of a set of new sister 

 bulbs ; No. 2 shows a case where each of three sister bulbs de- 

 veloped a single green leaf ; and No. 3 is of a plant in which the 

 largest of the new bulbs made a leafy growth that was especially 

 conspicuous. These three plants were photographed last spring 

 at the end of the blooming period. In all three the flower stalk 

 with its stem leaves is in evidence (No. i was a blind tulip). 



Ordinarily or normally the flowering stem is the only growth 

 that appears above ground from plants which develop from bulbs 

 of large or flowering size. Beneath the ground there occurs the 

 development of new bulbs, but aerial leaves from any of these do 

 not appear until the following season. Such bulbs appear as 

 shown in Nos. 11, 12, and 13 with which the leafy development 

 of the bulb shown in No. 4 is in marked contrast. 



The growth in such cases as that illustrated in No. 4 is ab- 

 normal in several particulars. The green leaves are outgrowths 

 of the outer scales ; normally the outermost scale becomes thin 

 and dry, while the inner ones (in flowering bulbs) function as 

 storage organs. The development of these scales into green leafy 



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