6 SOUTH AFRICAN FLOWERING PLANTS. 



The runners of the Oxalh make little l^ulbs 

 instead, so that plants soon spread over the ground, 

 and in a few years cover large spaces. 



To show how extensively it can spread, a few bulbs 

 were sent to the Botanic Gardens in Malta in 1804 ; it 

 has multiplied to such an extent that this plant now 

 covers large tracts in Malta, not only by the roadsides, 

 but forms "lawns" in front of houses instead of grass. 

 Some of the fields show a mass of golden yellow colour 

 in January, for it flowers there from December to May, 

 the dry season being the reverse of that at the Cape. 



Not only is it abundant in Malta and the adjacent 

 island of Gozo, but it has found its way to Egypt, 

 Algiers, and Morocco ; and from Gibraltar to the Greek 

 Islands, as Zante. 



It has thus spread during a hundred years all round 

 the Mediterranean Sea, by means of its little bulbs, 

 as Ox'alis cer'nua has never been known to bear any 

 pods with seeds in the northern hemisphere, as it does 

 at the Cape. 



The Uses of the Vegetative Organs. — We must first 

 consider the use of the fine thread-like roots. These 

 serve to draw up water and some mineral matters called 

 " salts " from the soil, by means of which plants are 

 partially nourished. Some plants have roots specially 

 constructed to store up prepared food made by the 

 leaves ; the garden carrot, parsnip, radisli, and turnip 

 do this. In these it is principally sugar. 



