BUFFALO BERRY 



BULBS 



189 



plant being more slender, less numerous, and arranged 

 in less compact clusters, those of the staminate plants 

 being rounded, and borne in dense clusters. 



FRED W. CARD. 

 BUGBANE is Cimicifuga. 



BUIST, ROBERT. Florist, seedsman, and author, was 

 born at Cupar Fyfe, near Edinburgh, Scotland, Nov. 14, 

 180.1, and died iii Philadelphia, July 13, 1880. He was 

 trained at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, came to 

 America in August, 1828, and was employed for a time 

 by Henry Pratt. In 1830 he became the partner of Hib- 

 bert, who had established the first notable florist's busi- 

 ness in Philadelphia. He became noted for his suc- 

 cesses with roses, which were at that time second in 

 popular favor to the camellia with the Philadelphians. 

 The great improvement of the verbena was largely due 

 to him, and was immediately followed by the introduc- 

 tion into America of a distinct class of bedding plants. 

 He introduced Poinsettia pulcherrima to the trade, and 

 his sale of the double form is said to have been the first 

 transaction of the kind accomplished by ocean telegraph. 

 He was the author of The American Flower-Garden 

 Directory-, in 1832, The Rose Manual, 1844, and The 

 Family Kitchen-Gardener (copyrighted, 1847), all of 

 which" were frequently reissued, and enjoyed a consid- 

 erable sale for many years. An excellent account of his 

 life may be found in The Gardener's Monthly 22:372 

 (1888). The frontispiece of the bound volume for the 

 year is his portrait. \y t j^ 



BULB, BULBS. A bulb is a thickened, fleshy, and 

 usually subterranean bud, generally emitting roots from 

 its under side. The function of the bulb is to carry 

 the plant over an unpropitious season, as over winter 

 or a dry period. True Bulbs are either tunicated, 

 formed in rings or layers, like those of hyacinths and 

 onions (Fig. 283), or scaly, like those of liliums (Fig. 

 284 ) ; but as popularly understood and in commercial 

 parlance, the term Bulbs applies to a large class of 

 flowering and ornamental bulbous -like plants in their 



which are solid, as crocus and gladiolus (Fig. 285); 

 tubers which are succulent and have the buds or eyes 

 near the surface, as the dahlia and potato (Fig. 286); 

 rhizomes, fleshy, creeping underground stems like cer- 



284. Scaly bulb of Lilium 

 pardalinum. 



283. Onion bulbs. 



285. Corm or solid bulb of Gladiolus. 



dormant condition, during which period they are col- 

 lected, dug. stored, shipped, sold and planted, like so 

 many potatoes. This class includes, in addition to the 

 true bulbs, many that are botanically known as conns, 



286. Potato Example of a tuber. 



tain iris, ginger, and many wild plants (Fig. 287 ; also, 

 Fig. 53, p. 37) ; pips, the flowering crowns of lily-of-the- 

 valley ; and certain other dormant fasciculated fleshy 

 roots like those of peonies, ranunculus, etc. A variety 

 of bulbs is shown in Fig. 288. The true or feeding roots 

 grow generally from the base of the bulb, the stems, 

 flowers and foliage from the crown of the bulb, or the 

 eyes. There is an exception to this in certain lilies, 

 which throw out roots above the bulb also (Fig. 289). 

 The bulb is a storehouse for the plant, wherein is formed, 

 after flowering, new stems, leaves and flowers. In fact, 

 the bulb contains a new plant, which is protected and sus- 

 tained within the bulb by the reserve food and energy 

 collected therein during one season for the plant's suc- 

 cessor. After the flowering period, the plant above the 

 bulb and the roots beneath it ripen off and die away. 

 The bulb is then in a dormant condition. It is during 

 this state of rest, lasting approximately from three to 

 six months, that bulbs are taken out of the ground and 

 transported easily and safely from continent to conti- 

 nent, if required; after which the incipient roots, stems, 

 foliage and flowers develop with as much luxuriance 

 and perfection conditions being congenial as if the 

 bulb had remained in its original environment. 



Bulbous flowering plants (bulbs) are very popular 

 with flower-loving people. There is a particular charm 

 and interest in growing them. As a rule, they produce 

 flowers of remarkable beauty, unsurpassed by any other 

 class of plants, and many of them are deliciously fra- 

 grant. They comprise an endless variety in habit, form, 

 size and color, are adaptable for many purposes, and 

 many of them flower equally well under either garden 

 or house culture. Soon after their beauty fades they 

 hide away, or may be removed ; and in the interval, 

 their places may be occupied by other seasonable flow- 

 ering plants. Not the least among the merits of bulbs 

 is their ease of culture, and the great certainty and 

 perfection with which their flowers are produced, under 

 suitable conditions. 



Among bulbous plants are many that are sufficiently 

 hardy to withstand the severity of our northern winters. 

 The kinds that are suitable are nearly all dormant in 

 the fall, which is the proper time for planting them, and 

 they will flower the coming season. In March or earlier, 

 spring is ushered in with the blooming of snowdrops, 

 chionodoxas, anemones, scillas, crocus, winter aconites, 

 bulbocodiums, etc., followed in April with brilliant hya- 

 cinths, tulips, narcissus and hosts of others. In April 

 appear the unapproachable late tulips, poet's daffodils, 

 dicentras, etc., followed in succession until frost, notably 

 with peonies, irises, hemerocallis, lilies, montbretias, 

 tritomas, etc. All these are useful for gardens, lawns, 

 and parks. 



Gardeners usually think of bulbs as divided into two 

 classes, hardy and tender, or those which stand freez- 

 ing and those which do not. There is a class from South 

 Africa known as Cape bulbs, which usually bloom in 

 the fall. There are now so many improved hybrids and 

 breeds that are crowding out the types, that the term 



