WILD GARLIC 



Bishopsweed ^ within a space six feet in diameter was seen to 

 be really a branch of this one original plant ! So to eradicate 

 the plant it would have been necessary to dig over the whole 

 garden to a depth of at least five or six feet. 



How did the stem get down to such a depth below the 

 surface? This is one of the most curious stories in plant 

 life, and the process which we shall now try to describe has 

 only been explained within the last few years.^ 



The seed of the Wild Garlic {Allium ursinum) lies at 

 first upon the surface of the ground, but it is soon buried by 

 a growth of the stalk of the seed-leaf, which pushes the germ 

 down below the earth. As soon as it is buried, roots are 

 formed and pass obliquely downwards, where they become 

 fixed by forming root-hairs all round themselves. These 

 root-hairs round every root hold its tip firmly in the earth ; 

 then these same roots contract or shorten, which of course 

 hauls down the root a little deeper in the earth. One might 

 compare it to a few men hauling down a balloon by ropes 

 attached to the car. About September to November, roots 

 of quite a different character are formed ; these explore the 

 surrounding soil and gather in food and moisture. 



Then the roots rest during the winter, when the buds and 

 young leaves are being formed. In April the buds begin to 

 push out their leaves and a new ring of roots appear. These 

 April roots are quite different from the September ones. 

 They again fix themselves firmly and then contract, becoming 

 fully a third shorter than they were originally. The bulb is 

 dragged down still deeper below the surface. It flowers in 

 May and fruits in June and July. Then in September the 



^ This weed is a cure for gout, and seems to have been called Bishops- 

 weed because it was supposed that gout was a common ailment of bishops ! 

 '^ By the classical researches of Rimbach. 



92 



