88 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



which send up new plants year after year. Creeping under- 

 ground stems are called rhizomes. 



The lily growing in the ostrich egg (Fig. 90) had blossoms, 

 but the seeds did not set; possibly for lack of food which 

 passed on to form little plants on the tip of each flowering 

 stalk. The little plants send out roots in search of food. If 

 they had been left in the mountain they would have been more 

 successful in their search. The little plants are given a good 

 start in the world, for the wiry stems throw out each plant a 



Fig. 91. — Klelma articulata. 



long distance from the parent, and in a few years they will 

 travel a long distance up or down the mountain. 



A great many of the Cape plants reproduce by bulbs. 

 They may lie dormant in the ground for years. After the 

 vegetation has been burned off these bulbs have a chance, and 

 then send up flowering stalks which turn the blackened veld 

 into a garden. 



New plants are obtained by cuttings from old ones. 

 Sometimes the stock is cut back so as to obtain a supply 

 of shoots for this purpose. It is in this way that potatoes 



