EKARTH-VEGETABLES 43 
term to designate those garden esculents of which the nutri- 
tive part grows in the earth. This edible part may be either 
a root-tuber as in the sweet potato (Figs. 56, 57), a crown-tuber 
as in the beet, turnip, radish, carrot, and parsnip (Figs. 41- 
55), or it may be a stem-tuber as in the white potato and 
the Jerusalem artichoke (Figs. 59, I-IV), or a bulb as in the 
onion (Figs. 60, 61). A root-tuber consists entirely of a 
swollen root gorged with reserve food. A crown-tuber bears 
a crown of leaves more or less rosette-like, thus showing it- 
self to be part stem and part root. By the term “tuber” 
botanists sometimes mean only a stem-tuber, but the word 
is more conveniently applied in a general sense to all short 
and much thickened roots orstems. A stem-tuber differs from 
a root-tuber in having “‘eyes”’ or buds regularly arranged in 
little pits along the sides; and from a crown-tuber in bearing 
no foliage-leaves, but instead minute. appendages, one below 
each eye. If a stem-tuber be made to sprout, the buds will 
grow into leafy branches. A bulb differs from a tuber in 
consisting chiefly of readily separable scale-like parts or 
layers which are mostly succulent. 
As will be seen from the chemical chart (page 114) the 
very large percentage of water in earth-vegetables presents 
a striking contrast to what we find in grains, nuts, and pulse. 
Notice also,- particularly in the roots, the comparatively 
white or rose-colored and five in number; and finally, outside of all, a 
row of sepals, which are green, and five in number. G, a twig bearing 
three leaves and two fruits of which one is shedding its leathery husk. 
H, asingle fruit. J, the same, with half the husk removed, to show the 
nut which appears above with half its shell removed to reveal the seed ° 
within. EE, the seed, covered by its thin brownish coat. F, the embryo 
gorged with food, shown after removal of the seed-coat. All more or less 
reduced in size. (Baillon.)—The plant is a tree closely resembling the 
peach tree in general form and in every part except the fruit. The 
flowers, appearing in very early spring, before the leaves, are re- 
markably beautiful. The fruit of the almond closely resembles a 
green peach; it differs from the peach mainly in having in place of the 
hard-shelled ‘‘stone’’ a rather soft-shelled nut which is covered by a 
leathery husk that commonly splits open when ripe. 
pistil and stamens which are known as the “essential organs,’’ and the sepals 
which constitute the calyx or outer floral envelope, it has an inner envelope 
made up of petals distinctly different in appearance from the sepals. The 
petals taken together constitute what is called the corolla, or “little crown”’ 
of the flower, and form commonly the most conspicuous part. The calyx 
and corolla taken together are called the perianth, especially if they are 
closely similar in appearance. ; 
