IX] 



RHIZOMES 



121 



set of green leaves. It is also for this reason that one 

 hacks in vain at the rhizomes of such weeds as JEgopo- 

 cliiim podagraria, Colt's-foot, Polygonum cuspidatum, 

 Harpaliiim, Twitch, or Equisetum, in the hope of exter- 

 minating them : each severed piece merely forms a new 

 bud from the axil of a scale-leaf, and this at the expense 

 of the stored food-materials grows up as a new plant. 



Fig. 52. Rhizome of a sedge (Le M and D). 



These facts help us to understand how it is that in 

 some rhizomes the parts behind soon die off, the reserve 

 materials being only stored in the younger forward regions, 

 and these latter thus become isolated in the soil at a 

 distance from the parent centre at a very early date — the 

 only distinction, because all rhizomes die off behind sooner 

 or later. 



It is customary to distinguish thin creeping rhizomes 

 with long internodes as underground stolons or soboles — 



