BOOTS. 



75 



appear to be the rudiments of imperfect leaves. The Creeping 

 Crowfoot (fig. D), has prostrate stems rooting at the joints, 



and the offshoots of the Couch-grass are but young underground 

 stems. We always hear " bulbous roots " spoken of, and these 

 again are not real roots, but contracted stems and leaf-buds. 

 We call them corms (fig. E). If the corm of a Crocus be cut 



in two just before the leaves begin to appear, it will be found 

 to consist of a collar from which the true roots spring, a solid 

 white part which is the stem, and one or two little buds in 

 the upper parts, which contain the germs of leaves and flowers. 

 The old corm wastes away when it has done flowering, and a 

 new corm is formed beside it. In the Crocus the new corm 

 forms above the old one, and the remains of the old one hang 

 like a fibrous ring at the base of the new. 



The first action of a germinating seed is to send down a tap- 

 root ; as the plant increases in size this generally disappears, 

 and the root assumes the characteristic form of the species. 

 Herbaceous plants have generally either fibrous roots, the fibres 



