FLORAL DLPLOMACY. 57 



by other means than seeds. Bulbs, corms, etc., are 

 not included in this class, for they are really arrange- 

 ments for continuing the life of the individual, rather 

 than of perpetuating the species. We have also 

 " adventitious buds," such as may be seen on the 

 crown of pollarded trees, or breaking out from the 

 bark of the Elm and Maple. Not unfrequently 

 the roots may form them, as in Pawlonia^ Madura 

 atLrantiaca^ and the better known Pyrus japonica. 

 Indeed, under favourable circumstances this class of 

 buds, each of which develops into an individual 

 plant, may be produced from any part of the vege- 

 table organism. 



In the " Air-plant," so called by cottagers in whose 

 windows we see it suspended (Biyophylhmi proli- 

 feriim), the thread-like roots hang down, with young 

 individuals sprouting from the nodes. These, as 

 they drop, commence their individual lives without 

 having had to undergo the ordinary process required 

 of embryos produced through the agency of seeds. 

 Such a habit may be regarded as the equivalent of 

 " fission " among the lower animals. Indeed, among 

 many phanerogams or true flower-bearers, the leaf- 

 buds may be separated from the parent plant, and 

 reared into new and distinct individuals. As a 

 rule, '' adventitious buds " are the result of unusual 

 vegetative activity — the plant has accumulated more 

 energy than it can expend by the ordinary process 

 of flowering. As an illustration of this I may 



