EARLY SPRING AND SUMMER FLOWERS 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C. M. Z. S., 



EDITOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WILD FLOWERS 



OF all the different methods of studying wild flowers, 

 there is none better than to transplant them from 

 where they flourish in nature to the home, and there 

 watch their daily growth and development at our leisure. 

 Of course this applies, as a rule, not only to those that 

 will bear transplanting and not be injured by it, but to 

 those which are of a convenient size for experimentation 

 of this kind. There are hundreds of plants in any region, 

 in any part of this country, which it will repay the student 

 of flowers to observe during the various growth-variations 

 that take place in them, from the initial stages of their 

 seed-germination, to include the several stages of decline 

 and death. Any medium-sized room, properly heated and 

 lighted, will answer as a laboratory for such experiments 



and observations. There should be flower-boxes of suit- 

 able sizes, filled with various kinds of soils and sand, 

 placed on tables where the sunlight may reach them, in 

 order to maintain, as nearly as possible, the conditions 

 which the species selected for observation enjoy in their 

 normal ranges in nature. During some experiments, too, 

 some of the boxes may be kept in the shade, and still 

 others in utter darkness. 



A first-class microscope with its complete equipment, 

 as well as a good hand-lens, are the chief instruments re- 

 quired in work of this class. When some of your plants 

 begin to flower, they should be by an open window, in 

 that you may observe as many as possible of the various 

 species of insects that visit them, and the part they play 



ILLUSTRATED GLOSSARY ROOTS, TENDRILS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES 



Figure 31 illustrates the root-hairs on the primitive root of the seedling 

 maple, and Figure 32 is the extreme tip of the same root, magnified many times. 

 The absorbing surface of roots is enormously increased by the presence of these 

 root-hairs. It is surprising how rapidly they can supply all parts of the growing 

 plant above ground with moisture. A large number of annual plants, such as 

 corn for example, possess roots of this character; they are called fibrous roots, 

 as they have the structure of certain kinds of tuberous fibers. The various 

 forms of fleshy roots and their functions have already been defined and described 

 in the "Glossary" for last month. 



Good examples of tuberous roots are seen in such plants as the common 

 sweet potato and the dahlia (Figure 33). Such growths possess no main root, 

 while the nourishment for the growing plant is stored in these tubers. The 

 common peony is another good example of them. Common Irish potatoes are 

 tut tuberous parts of stems, and not really roots at all. 



The nature of secondary roots is touched upon in the article in this issue, 

 while in addition to these we have another class of roots known as aerial roots. 

 Tropical forests supply the best examples of these, or in countries where the 

 climate is particularly damp and warm. Good examples may be seen in sugar 

 cane, and in various representatives of the fig tree family. Such roots are given 

 off from the stem of the plant or tree above the ground, finally growing down into 

 it, and then behaving just like ordinary roots. Throughout this country where 

 plants or vines are found, we see splendid examples of aerial roots in the common 

 poison Ivy, in the trumpet vine, trie fox grape, and the Virginia creeper (Figures 

 36 and 37). Aerial rootlets of the class here alluded to are principally applied 

 to climbing, rarely having anything to do with the nourishment of the vine or 

 plant possessing them. In most cases they take the place of tendrils, as just 



pointed out in the Virginia creeper; they cling by their suckers (Figure 37) to 

 trees, walls and buildings, and never develop buds, leaves, or thorrs._ Under- 

 ground or subterranean stems and branches must not be confounded with roots. 

 In the first place, there is the ordi'nary rootstock or rhizoma; secondly, the 

 tuber; third, the corm, and lastly, the bulb. A rootstock is a creeping branch 

 or stem found below or partly below the surface of the ground. Two kinds of 

 rootstocks are shown in the illustrated glossary above. In Figure 38 the short 

 rhizoma or rootstock of a trillium, from which the bud is protruding above; 

 in Figure 40, the rootstock of Solomon's seal. Note at its right-hand end the 

 bud for the next year's growth, while on top, just to the left, the basal end of 

 the old stalk of the present season is found. 



A tuber is nothing more than the thickened part of a rootstock, and a very 

 familiar example of it is seen in the common potato. The solid bulb or corm 

 has excellent examples in the ordinary garden crocus, or in the Jack-in-the- 

 pulpit. In Figures 34 and 35, the bulb or corm of the crocus is presented; 

 in Figure 34 it is just beginning to sprout, while in Figure 35 there is a section 

 of one of these bulbs, made vertically through its center. Small bulbs, attached 

 to bulbs above ground, such as we see in the onion and common garden lily, 

 are called bulblets. They are nothing more than dwarfed bulbs with thickened 

 scales, and their usual fate is to become detached, to fall to the ground, and to 

 grow as independent plants. In Figure 39 is the leaf of a common lily; its 

 lower end, or the underground portion, is thickened into a "bulb-scale"; the 

 dotted portion shows how thick it is. In the autumn the lily leaf dies down to 

 this thickened base, which later remains a scale of the bulb. This goes on season 

 after season, the bulb developing from the center, to produce the leaves and 

 flowers of any particular year, the external scales surrendering their nourish- 

 ment for the purpose, a purpose duly followed by their death and decay. 



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