igo SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



the scars left upon the underground stem by the 

 dead leaves — and its near relatives the Lilies, which 

 store up their vegetable savings in the shape of bulbs. 



A distinction must be drawn in this thrifty habit, 

 begotten entirely of climatal conditions. Our Cro- 

 cuses, Lilies, Daffodils, Hyacinths, Primroses, etc., 

 store up in their bulbs and root-stocks for the benefit 

 of themselves, so that they may not suffer the fate of 

 the feeble little annuals which have not been able to 

 adopt the same plan, and which therefore die when 

 the winter frosts set in. True, whenever excess of 

 food -materials have been elaborated we get bulbils 

 (or buds from the bulbs) formed, so that new indi- 

 viduals are thus generated. But the main thought, 

 so to speak, in their acquirement of this habit of 

 storing up was a personal one — that of " providing 

 against a rainy day." The formation of bulbils is 

 an afterthought, and is carried out very unequally. 



The Pilewort or Little Celandine {Rammcidiis 

 ficarid), the Granulated Saxifrage [Saxifj^aga granu- 

 losa), the Potato {Solaiiuni tuberosum), the Artichoke 

 {Cynara scolymns), are less selfish. The individuals 

 die down when winter comes, but the tubers are real 

 underground buds, produced where they are sheltered 

 from mammals and other predatory enemies. The 

 individual plant saves and stores for another genera- 

 tion, as well as for itself. Its patriotism may even 

 induce it to sacrifice its own existence for the benefit 

 of its species. The Strawberry and many other plants 



