VEGETATIVE REPRODUCTION 



103 



growth is due to the vegetative formation of buds wliicli 

 lengthen into branches and the branches then separate from 

 the stem. Sometimes, as in the case of the strawberry, or 

 some buttercups, runners are formed and from tlie tip a new 

 young strawberry plant grows out. The runner then Ijccomes 

 severed and we have two plants where before we had but one. 

 The eyes of the potato are underground buds, and similar 

 buds exist on the Jerusalem artichoke. Here when the buds 

 sprout and grow into new plants the parent body dies; but 



Fig. 57. Creeping Buttercup, showing creeping shoot arising in the angle 

 between a leaf and the main plant. After Praeger. 



in other cases, such as the strawberry, the parent survives. 

 In all these plants overcrowding occurs sooner or later. Wq 

 have also what are called adventitious buds. These occur in 

 all sorts of odd places. If a leaf of a BryophyJlum, one of 

 the stonecrop or houseleek family, be pegged down in moist, 

 damp earth, little buds will turn up in the notches of the leaf. 

 The leaf then decays and the isolated buds carry on the race. 

 Similar buds are produced in this way by the Gloxinia, tlic 

 Begonia and other plants. Roses are capable of forming buds 

 even on their roots, and the fact that the same is true of the 

 dandelion explains the difficulty in clearing a lawn of these 

 pests. 



II-2 



