174 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [LECT. IV. 



made apparent*. When the new bulb is per- 

 fected after the flowering 1 season is over, the ex- 

 terior scales of the old one decay ; and by degrees 

 the stem and a large portion of the old caudex 

 also separate ; but as the whole of the caudex 

 does not slough off, and a new portion is added by 

 each successive bulb, it becomes gradually elon- 

 gated, and at length bears some resemblance, 

 when the scales are taken off, to a cylindrical, 

 toothed, praemorse root. The new bulb, how- 

 ever, is not always found seated close to the stem, 

 in every species of this natural genus of bulbife- 

 rous plants. In Lilium superbum, for instance, 

 a very thick, succulent, lateral runner is projected 

 from the caudex of the bulb ; and, pushing aside 

 the neighbouring scales, advances considerably 

 beyond them, bearing the rudiments of the new 

 bulb on its extremity. Owing to this circumstance, 

 the plant of each successive year rises at some 

 distance from the site of its predecessor ; and as 

 the old bulbs do not soon die away, one or two of 

 these, in a decaying state, are generally found 



* Plate 2. fig. 3. A. The young bulb as seen at the basis of 

 the stem, when the scales of the old bulb are removed : a. the 

 stem ; b. the young bulb ; c. the attached fragments of the 

 scales ; d. the roots of the present year's bulb ; e. the remains 

 of those of last year. B. The interior of A. divided by. a 

 longitudinal section ; a. the remains of last year's caudex ; b. 

 the caudex of the bulb of the present year, with the vessels 

 which nourish it anastomosing with those of the parent stem. 



