36 



THE TULIP. 



and few, rarely more than 3. In margin, they agree with 

 Erythronium except that they are wavy. In figure, they are 

 partly lanceolate, and partly with 

 the outline of an egg, being 

 broadest just below the middle: 

 hence they are ov^^-lanceolate. 

 They have a clasping base and no 

 petiole. Compare the venation 

 with that of Erythronium (p. 31). 

 THE FLOWER REGION. Here 

 note the attitude of the flower 

 in contrast with that of Erythro- 

 nium; but its organs are of the 

 same number and kind.* The 



Sepals and petals are 



distinguished only by 



their position. Which 



outer ? They are all 



ovate, blunt (obtuse) at the apex, 



Concave, and not recurved nor 



spreading. The ovary and its re- 

 sulting pod is in the form of a 



triangular prism. The 3 stigmas 



are the 

 broadly 



Fig. VI. Tulipa 

 Gesneriana; 2, sec- 

 tion of the bulb; 3, 

 the pistil. 



coat two minute buds ready to be developed in turn to take the place of the parent 

 (2). Thus, after flowering and fruiting, we shall find the bulb which we planted 

 shriveled and empty, having imparted its substance to its offspring, but already 

 replaced by another or two, full grown from the buds, and replete with rudiments 

 like the former. So provident is Nature. "No leaf drops till a new one is prepared 

 to take its place ; no flower perishes naturally till its house is made ready and fur- 

 nished with seeds. In Autumn, the sad season of decay, there is yet as much of life 

 as of death." Amidst the tokens of death are the elements of growth. In the 

 autumn buds of the Oak are hidden its future leaves ; in those of the Lilac, its com- 

 ing leaves and flowers. In the bulb of the Hyacinth, another season's blossoms are 

 clearly seen even with the naked eye. The rich mucilage of the Slippery Elm, and 

 the sweet sap of the Sugar Maple, are provided beforehand for feeding the young 

 buds and hastening their early development. Thus within a few days a large tree 

 will cover itself with foliage and bloom. 



* The flower of the Tulip like that of the Rose (p. 114) is often double, in which 

 state it is unfit for analysis. 



