166 



BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT 



whole bulb is in fact a perennating bud, the apex of which terminates 

 in a flower, or inflorescence, while the growth is theri continued by 

 one or 'more leafy buds formed in the axils of the storage leaves 

 (Fig. 125). The plants quoted are sufficiently distinct from one 

 another to show that they are all cases of independent adaptation, 

 though the method of their perennation is the same in each. 



Such arrangements are biologically suited to life under strongly 

 marked seasons. The plant starts the active season of each year with a 



B 



A 



FIG. 125. 

 Bulb of the Hyacinth. A, seen externally ; B, in median section. (After Figuier.) 



sufficient store of nutrition already in hand to support rapid flowering. 

 In the remainder of the active season the store for the next year is 

 acquired by the expanded foliage leaves, and laid aside in the ripening 

 bulb. The bulb-dealer is understood to sell fully ripened bulbs : flower- 

 buds are already present in them, and only wait to expand. The pur- 

 chaser simply offers the conditions for active growth, and for the transfer 

 of the store to the flowering region. But to ensure a repetition of the 

 flowering in the next year he must fully ripen the bulb again as before. 

 This is often difficult, or impossible in the case of room-culture, or in 

 towns. Hence the dealer has a safe and continued market, based on the 

 ignorance, or the lack of opportunity of the public. The professional 





