ro2 



BOTANY 



PART 11 



(a) Capsule with three styles ; dehiscence septicidal, i.e. fruit splits 

 through the septa. Melanthieae. 



(b) Capsule with one style ; dehiscence loculicidal, i.e. fruit splits 



opening the chambers of the ovary. 

 Lilieae. 



(c) Fruit a berry. Asparageae. 



The majority of the Liliaceae are per- 

 ennial herbs with bulbs, tubers, or rhi- 

 zomes. They mainly inhabit the -warm 

 temperate regions, and utilise the cool and 

 moist spring or autumn seasons as their 

 vegetative period, passing the dry or cold 

 seasons beneath the soil. 



Colchicum autumnale, tlie Autumn 

 Crocus (Figs. 763, 764) is a perennial herb 

 growing in meadows. If a plant is ex- 

 amined in autumn at the time of flower- 

 ing, the corm {Jc), to the base of which is 

 attached the lateral shoot bearing the 

 flowers, will be seen to be enclosed in a 

 brown envelope (Fig. 764, h). Roots 

 spring from the base of this lateral shoot 

 ( w'), while those of the old corm (w) are 

 in a withered condition. At the summit 

 of the corm the remains or scar of a dead 

 aerial shoot will be seen {st). The lateral 

 flowering shoot bears at its base three 

 sheathing leaves (s', s," I') not separated 

 by elongated internodes. In the axil of 

 the third of these [V) is a bud {k") which 

 will form the flowering shoot of the next 

 season ; this third leaf will develop a 

 lamina and appear above ground in spring 

 as the first foliage leaf. A thickened 

 internode {k') separates it from the two 

 leaves {I") situated higher up on the axis. 

 Above them come the flowers {b, h'), which 

 may be four in number, and stand in the 

 axils of reduced leaves ; by the arrest of 

 the growing point of the axis the flowers 

 appear to be terminal. In sjiring the 

 reserve materials from the tuber {k) are 

 absorbed and the old tuber is pushed aside 

 by the swollen internode (^•'), which in 

 its turn enlarges to form a new corm. 

 , channelled, dark green laminae above the 

 soil ; their sheathing portions closely surround the axis. The latter bears the fruits, 

 which contain numerous, spherical, black seeds ; these are liberated by the 

 dehiscence of the capsule at the sutures. The aerial shoot then dies, the leaf- 

 sheaths surrounding the new corm, which bears a lateral bud [k") in the axil of its 



Fig. 764. — Colchicum autumnale. Longitudinal 

 section through the corm of a flowering 

 plant. Explanation in text. (After Sachs.) 

 Official. 



The three foliage leaves expand their long 



