CHAPTER III 



BULBS LAYERS DIVISIONS 



BULBS HYACINTHS Harvesting NARCISSUS AND TULIP BULB- 

 LETS GORMS TUBERS AND TUBEROUS ROOTS DAHLIAS 

 FANCY LEAF GALADIUM OFFSETS SUCKERS LAYERS - 

 Simple Preparing Plants for Layering Tip Serpentine Con- 

 tinuous Air Chinese Mound RUNNERS RHIZOMES 

 CONSERVATORY PLANTS DIVISION OF PERENNIALS. 



ULBS are actually entire blooming plants with the stem, leaves, 

 and flower telescoped together. Under proper environmental 

 conditions they start to grow and bloom. There are two types of 

 bulbs: the tunicated and the scaly. The tunicated bulbs, illustrated 



by the Onion and Tulip, are clothed 

 in a tight-fitting dry skin or tunic 

 (See fig. 36). The scaly bulbs, illus- 

 trated by those of the Lily (see fig. 

 30), are composed of thick, over- 

 lapping scales. 



Many bulbs propagate 

 naturally by the production 

 of small bulbs, or bulbels 

 within them, in which case 

 the small bulbs gradually 

 become larger and larger 

 until they are of blooming 

 size. (See figs. 29 and 32.) 

 The behavior of the Nar- 

 cissus in producing double- 

 nose bulbs will illustrate 

 this. When bulbs propa- 

 gate by this method, fre- 

 quent transplanting is 

 necessary to keep the old 

 and new bulbs from crowd- 

 ing. A number of our bulbs 

 in the garden are multi- 



Fig. 29. Diagram of bulb structure. Note 

 the thick fleshy scales which compose the main 

 part of the bulb; the flower stem and true 

 leaves at the center of the bulb; the two small 

 bulbs, or bulbels, produced between the scales 

 but gradually pushed outside as the bulb 

 grows ; the white area at the base of the bulb 

 corresponds to the stems of plant parts above 

 the soil 



