336 



THE CROWFOOT FAMILY 



the wood-anomony and the Christmas rose, and persist over 

 the winter as a res(>rv()ir of food upon which buds may feed 

 the following spring. Such an elongated subterranean stem 

 is called a rootstock or rhizome.'- When, as in the bulbous 

 crowfoot, the subterranean base of the stem becomes so much 

 gorged with food as to be spha?roidal or oblate in form it is 

 termed a ''solid bulb" or corm.' 



Fig. 290. — Vine-bower Clematis {Clematis Vilalba, Crowfoot Family, 

 RanunculaceoB) . A, flower-cluster. B, flower. C, same, cut vertically. 

 D, stamen. E, pistils. F, floral diagram. G, fruit. H, base of fruit, 

 cut vertically. (LeMaout and Dccaisnc.) — A somewhat woody climber 

 growing; 10 m. long; flowers dull white; fruit hoary. Native home, 

 Mediterranean Region; cultivated in gardens. 



Turning now to the foliage of our marsh-marigold we find 



the leaves to be of a form very common among seed-plants, 



and comparatively simple although more highly developed 



than the leaves of flax. In a marsh-marigold leaf we may 



distinguish a broadly expanded part, the blade, borne on a 



footstalk or petiole; » which expands again at its base into a 



' Rhiz-ome < Gr. rhiza, root, because of its root-like appearance. 

 ^ Corm < Or. kormon, a pollarded tree-trunk. 



' Pet'-i-ole < L. pciiolm^, a little foot, diminutive of pes, pedis, a 

 foot. 



