154 



MONOCOTYLEDONS 



ous, and form racemes from the axils of the leaves. The fruit 

 is a red berry. 



The Bulb of the Onion deserves our special notiofC. ' It is as 

 little a root in the botanical sense of the word as is the tuber 



of the potato. Cut it through and you 

 will find a flat solid mass at its lower 

 end, from which fibrous roots and 

 a number of concentric, overlapping, 

 succulent scales and leaves (often with 

 a flower-bud in the centre) are de- 

 veloped. This solid substance evidently 

 is the stem of the plant, and the wliole 

 bulb is just a bud. The soil in which 

 the bulb is hidden prevents loss of 

 moisture by transpiration, and so its 

 life is preserved through the hot season, 

 though the upper parts, leaves and 

 flowers, all wither and die. The outer 

 scales of the bulb are dry (scarious") 

 and form an additional protective coat over the inner juicy leaves. 

 How the bulb represents a food-store of the Onion for its 

 growth in the coming growing season and is thus enabled to take 

 an early advantage of the favourable season, is explained on 

 pp. 91, 92 in the description of the Potato plant. And this is 

 the reason why many of the bulb or tuber-born plants, e.g., the 

 Thunder-lily (Zephyranthes), Crinum, Urginea, Iphigenia, Curcuma, 

 and Curculigo, are among the first flowers in the new season. 



Fig-. 141. — Longitudinal sec 

 tion of the bulb of an Onion 



35. The Amaryllis Family 



(Amaryllidaceae). 



Herbs very much like the Lilies. Ovary inferior. 



The Asiatic Crinum (Crinum asiaticum), 



{Kan. Visliamunguli. Mai. Veluttapolatali. Tam. Tudaivaci. Tel. Kosaricettu. 



San, Yishamandala.) 



This is a perennial and evergreen herb with a large elongated 



