44 BUDS ON LEAVES. 



{Curculigo). In many cases the buds which arise in the form of little papillae 

 grow straightway into miniature plants, as in the case of the Cuckoo-flower 

 {Cardamine pratensis, see fig. 200'^), or else little bulbs are formed in the first 

 instance, as in the various species of Garlic and in the Crown-imperial (Allium 

 and Fritillaria), or small tubers, as in the above specified instances of the genus 

 Malaxis. In the one case cells situated in the middle of the lamina — usually 

 above the point of bifurcation of a vascular bundle — are the seat of origin of buds, 

 as, for example, in the Cuckoo-flower, already so often referred to; in other cases, 

 such as Curculigo, the buds spring from the extremity of the midrib. The little 

 orchid Malaxis paludosa (see fig. 200 ^), which is a native of moorlands in North- 

 western Europe, develops its diminutive buds principally on the surface and 

 margins of the upper portions of the green foliage-leaves, and these buds appear 

 in such large numbers that several botanists state in their descriptions . that the 

 leaves of Malaxis paludosa are for the most part "shortly ciliated". Of all the 

 manifold kinds of epiphyllous leaves these little structures produced on the green 

 leaves of the Orchid in question possess a surpassing interest on account of their 

 form. Each bud (two of which are shown in fig. 200 ^) consists of a yellowish-green 

 cellular body, shaped like a kernel, and of a layer of cells hanging loosely together 

 and enveloping the kernel like a sac. At the free extremity the cells of the 

 envelope form a kind of ring, which constitutes the rim of a round depression. The 

 resemblance of these buds to the seeds of Orchids, especially to those of Malaxis 

 paludosa, is obvious on the most cursory examination, and it will again be referred 

 to in a subsequent section. 



Buds are found much less frequently on scale-leaves and floral-leaves than 

 on the green foliage-leaves. Sometimes they may be observed to spring from 

 bulb-scales if the latter are stripped off" the axis and put into moist sand. In 

 these cases they are invariably developed at the spots where the scales have been 

 cut and injured. Dutch cultivators of bulbs make use of this property to 

 propagate hyacinths direct from the bulb-scales. They cut out the axis of the 

 bulb, remove also any rudiments of floral axis which may be present, and cut 

 transversely through the lower part of the bulb-scales. Not infrequently the 

 bulb-scales are also partially divided longitudinally. One would think that after 

 such treatment the bulb must sooner or later perish; but, on the contrary, a crowd 

 of small bulb-like buds are produced on the scales at the edges of the cuts, and 

 cases are known of over a hundred young bulbs being obtained in the manner 

 described from the scales of a single hyacinth bulb. 



Of all epiphyllous buds those originating in the tissue of floral-leaves are, as 

 stated, the least common. Minute buds have, however, been repeatedly observed 

 to be developed, instead of seeds, on the carpels in the interior of the fruits of 

 several species of Grinum and Amaryllis. They were seated on round bodies 

 of tissue, which were not distinguishable from little tubers. When laid on damp 

 soil, each produced a new plant. We need only allude here to the cases of 

 parthenogenesis, which will be discussed later on, wherein seeds capable of 



