94 



PRACTICAL PLANT PROPAGATION 



Fig. 40. Tuber of Jerusalem Artichoke. Note that 

 the eyes, unlike those of the Dahlia, are on the tuber 



badly. When it is 

 time to sow them they 

 should be soaked for 

 several days to soften 

 their hard shells. 

 Some growers peel 

 them but if they have 

 been stored in damp 

 soil this is not nec- 

 essary. Sow them as 

 one would sow seed. 

 Some of the larger 

 ones will bloom the 

 first year. A more 

 rapid method of mul- 

 tiplying new varieties 

 is to cut the corm 

 into several pieces so that each piece has one or more eyes. 



Other plants that produce corms are Crocus, Cyclamen, Antho- 

 lyza, Colchicum, Arum, Arisa3ma, Ixia, Montbretia, Morsea, Spar- 

 axis, Tigridia, Watsonia. (For additional list see page 179.) 



TUBERS AND TUBEROUS ROOTS 



Certain plants develop thickened portions of their stems, called 

 tubers, beneath the soil. Tuberous roots differ from tubers in that 

 they have no eyes 

 from which growth 

 may start. The eyes 

 of the tuberous roots 

 are at the base of the 

 old flowering stem. 

 Examples of tubers 

 are: Potato, Jerusa- 

 lem Artichoke (Heli- 

 anthus tuberosus), (see 

 fig. 40), Begonia 

 Evansiana. Tuberous 

 roots are found in 

 the following plants: 

 Dahlia (see fig. 41), 

 Tuberous Begonia, 



Pol 

 L.al- 



Fig. 41. Tuberous roots of Dahlia. Note that the 

 sprouts start at the base of the old stem and not on the 

 tuber itself. The line marked C-C shows how the Dahlia 

 should be divided, each new plant having a piece of 

 the parent stem, a tuber and a sprout 



