664 FAMILIES OF ANGIOSPERMS. 



to supply nutriment. The staminate flowers, being short-lived, 

 need a comparatively small amount of nutriment, and after 

 the escape of the pollen (dehiscence of the anthers) the spathe 

 dies, while the leaf remains green to assimilate food for growth 

 of the fleshy short stem (corm), where also is stored nutriment 

 for the growth in the autumn and spring when the leaf is dead. 

 The female plants have more work to do in providing for the 

 growth of the embryo and seed, in addition to the growth of 

 the corm and next season's flower. The smaller female plants 

 thus sometimes so exhaust themselves in seed-bearing that the 

 corm becomes small, and the following season the plant is reduced 

 to a male one. 



Growth and death of the corm. The new roots each year 

 arise from the upper part of the corm. The stored substances 

 in the base of the corm are used in the early season's growth, 

 and the old tissue sloughs off as the new corm is formed above 

 upon its remains. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY OF THE INDIAN TURNIP. 



Staminate plants (sometimes called male plants). Sketch an entire 

 plant showing the corm (the thickened perennial stem), the annual shoot 

 with leaves and spathe. Cut away one side of the spathe to expose the 

 long compact cluster (spadix) of staminate flowers within. Sketch the 

 spadix, showing the mass of stamens as well as the sterile part of the shoot 

 above. Dissect off from the axis several of the stamens. Note that the 

 filament is very short, and that the anther is irregularly lobed. 



The pistillate plants (sometimes called female plants). Compare with 

 the staminate plant. How many leaves are there? Is the number of 

 leaves constant on all the pistillate plants ? Cut away one side of the spathe 

 and expose the spadix of pistillate flowers. Sketch. Observe that each 

 flower consists of a single flask -shaped pistil, and that these are packed 

 closely together. Note the delicate brush-like stigma. Search for plants 

 which show both stamens and pistils on the same spadix. Where both 

 kinds of flowers are present on the same spadix, on what part of the spadix 

 does each kind appear ? On the corm of different plants search for lateral 

 buds, which are young plants. Observe that they usually arise on directly 

 opposite sides of the corm; that they easily become freed from the old 

 corms; that they are young corms. Do they arise in the axils of the leaves 

 or scale leaves which have fallen away? 



