172 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. fLBCT. IV. 



\ - 



common parents; which, in this species of bulb, 

 are two hemispheres, opposed to each other by 

 their flat surfaces, and united at their bases to the 

 radical plate, whence the stem proceeds *. Its 

 physiology is the same as that of the other solid 

 bulbs. 



II. SCALY BULBS consist of fleshy scales at- 

 tached to a radical plate, and so arranged as to 

 lie over each other like the tiles of a roof. v Each 

 scale is a homogeneous mass of cellular substance, 

 thick and fleshy in the middle ; but in some in- 

 stances nearly membranous at the edge, concave 

 on one side, and necessarily convex on the other. 

 Each scale, also, is a distinct reservoir of nutri- 

 ment, and is endued with such a share of vitality 

 as not only enables it to live if detached from the 

 bulb ; but, when placed in a proper soil, to ve- 

 getate and produce an entire new bulb. There are 

 two species only of scaly bulbs, the squamous and 

 the granulated. 



1 . The Squamous bulb (Bulbus squamosus ^) 



* Vide Plate 3. fig. 12. The twofold bulb of cluster-flowered 

 Fritillary (F. Pyrenaica). A. a. a. the two hemispheres united 

 at the caudex ; b. the stem rising between them ; c. the roots : 

 B. a. one hemisphere separated from the other, in order to show 

 the two young bulbs b. b. produced on each side of the stem c. ; 

 the longitudinal line on each marking the place at which the di- 

 vision will take place: d. the caudex. 



f " Squamosus constans imbricatis lamellis. Lilium.*' Phil. 

 Botan. 85. 1. 



4 



