VEGETATIVE REPRODUCTION 



157 



shoot in the old bulb during the resting period. The food 

 that was destined for the flower is diverted and used in 

 the production of numerous small bulbs. Lilies, hya- 

 cinths, etc., are regularly propagated by this method. 

 The scales of the hyacinth are also slit up, and when 

 placed in a warm, moist atmosphere as many as a hundred 

 tiny bulbils may be formed along the cut edges, and 

 after several seasons these become big flowering bulbs. 



a 



FIG. 59. TULIP BULB CUT LONGI- 

 TUDINALLY. 



a, foliage-leaves ; b, flower ; c, fleshy 

 scale - leaves ; d, axillary bud, 

 which swells to form next year's 

 bulb ; e, stem. 



FIG. 60. NARCISSUS BULB CUT 

 LONGITUDINALLY. 



a, flower ; b, young foliage-leaves ; 

 c, fleshy bases of old foliage- 

 leaves ; d, stem. 



In the narcissus (Fig. 60) the scales are numerous and 

 tightly packed ; they are the bases of old foliage-leaves. 

 The flowering shoot and young foliage-leaves are again 

 situated in the centre of the bulb, but after flowering the 

 food passes into the bases of the leaves, and the upper 

 parts die away, leaving broad, jagged, membranous ends. 

 In this way the original bulb gradually increases in size, 

 and may persist for several years. A bud in the axil of 

 one of the central foliage-leaves becomes the flowering 

 shoot of the succeeding year. The narcissus multiplies 

 by the formation of new bulbs, which arise, as buds in the 



