STRUCTURE OF MODIFIED SHOOTS 120. 



formed in the axils of the lower leaves have produced 

 branches (rh) which creep on the surface of the soil, and 

 you will observe that they are swollen at the ends to form 

 small potatoes (t), bearing ' eyes ' like the parent, one of 

 which is producing a shoot (e.s). During the growth of 



Fig. 82. Rhizome of Flowering Rush descending 

 into the Soil. 



the shoots, the potato becomes soft and wrinkled as the 

 store of food is used up. Examine a potato and determine 

 the arrangement of the eyes ; note that at one end is a scar, 

 left when the potato breaks from the stem. Usually the 

 eyes are few or absent near the scar, become more numerous 

 towards the opposite or growing end, and are arranged 

 in a spiral. In cultivation, banking up with earth 



129G 



