NATURE'S WOODCRAFT: A CHAPTER ON STEMS 



213 



unlike buds, with thick, fleshy scales folded round a conical axis (fig. 273). 



Corms are somewhat similar, but their scales are thin, few, and mem- 



branous ; and the axis of a corm is much thicker than the axis of a 



bulb (fig.. 272). The Crocus, Cyclamen, and Gladiolus offer good examples 



of the corm ; and instances of bulbs are furnished by the Lily, Onion, Star 



of Bethlehem, Snakes- 



head, and Hyacinth. 



Both these forms of 



underground stem are 



storehouses of food 



material, husbanding 



the strength and energy 



acquired by the plant 



during one season for 



the exigencies of the 



next. The reserve of 



food is largely drawn 



upon by the plant at 



the time of flowering, 



but if flowering be pre- 



vented, a very consider- 



able saving of expendi- 



ture is the result ; while 



the bulb, which is con- 



tinually receiving fresh 



supplies of nutriment 



from the leaves, is found 



to be larger at the end 



of the growing season 



than at the commence- 



ment. A Lily, or other 



bulbous plant, by having 



the buds cut out year 



after year just before the 



period of flowering, ac- 



Cumulates an abnormal 



l 



OI lOOCl- 



Photo z>y] 



step. 



FlG - 267. PILLWORT (Pilularia globulifera). 



Scarcely to be distinguished from grass at a glance. It has a long, thread- 

 like, creeping rhizome from which long, slender leaves arise singly or in pairs, 

 i , , i , -, and between their bases are the spherical spore-cases. EUROPE, NORTH OP 



material (starch) ; and THE ALPS. 



when at last the plant 



is permitted to flower, it is able to compensate itself for former deprive- 



ments by making an exceptionally grand display. Herein lies the secret 



of the size and beauty of many " florists' flowers." 



Many of these bulbous plants grow in places where, for many months, 

 owing to the absence of rain, the land is a desert. Deep in the ground 



