PROPAGATION 



183 



favorable season. The potato and artichoke are good examples. 

 Rootstocks are also subterranean stems, but differ from tubers 



FIG. 132. Onion bulbs 

 The sectioned specimens show the origin of bulblets 



in being the main axes of the plants instead of branches, and 

 in living much longer. When the rootstock branches, how- 

 ever, these shoots act exactly like tubers in forming new 

 plants. The iris and Solomon's seal 

 are good illustrations of rootstocks. 

 Bulblets, or bulbils, are budlike struc- 

 tures, really small buds, produced in 

 the axils of bulb scales, as in many 

 lilies and the " potato " onion, or on 

 the aerial parts of plants, such as 



may be seen in the tiger lily and the FIG. 133. A corm of gla- 

 " top " onion. Cormels are small con- 

 densed stems with one or more buds, 

 and are produced by corms, such as the gladiolus and crocus. 

 Artificial propagation. In multiplying his specimens the 

 gardener takes advantage of all the methods evolved by 



diolus with several small 

 cormels attached 



