62 GEMS. PART i. 



the parent plant, and fixing themselves in the soil. 

 Gems, according to Gcertner, are of two sorts, sim- 

 ple and compound ; simple if furnished with only 

 a single envelope ; and compound if furnished with 

 two or more envelopes. Of each sort there are also 

 two species, the former including the Propago and 

 Gongylus*i\\z latter, the bulb and bud, which last 

 only are proper to perfect plants. 



SUBSECTION I. 



Its defini* The Bulb. The bulb is a compound gem of a ten- 

 varieties, der and succulent substance, and of an oval or globu- 

 lar figure, situated upon the root, stem or branch, 

 from which it ultimately and spontaneously detaches 

 itself, and forms a new individual. If it is situated 

 on the root it is said to be radical ; and if upon the 

 stem or branch it is said to be caulinary. 

 Radical ARTICLE 1 . The Radical Bulb. The radical bulb 

 discrip- ItS nas generally been regarded by botanists as constitu- 

 ting merely a root ; and is still, I believe, often so 

 regarded. But this view of the subject cannot be 

 acknowledged to be sufficiently correct, except un- 

 der the limitations stated in the former chapter, 

 by which the term root was found to be applicable 

 only to the fibres issuing from the base of the bulb. 

 The bulb therefore is not a root ; but as Linnaeus 

 has well characterized it, " It is the winter quarters 

 of the future plant," furnished with a root suitable 

 to its peculiar structure. 



tion. 



