82 NOTES ON LILIES 



of the Califbrnian Lilies (Washingtonianum and Humboldtii) this type 

 of structure is modified by the central axis of the bulb being pro- 

 longed horizontally, so that the scales are thrown out of a regular 

 spiral, and the mature bulb is irregular in shape and more or less 

 flattened laterally. Here, then, we get a squamose bulb taking the 

 first step to pass off in the direction of a true rhizome ; but the fleshy 

 scales are quite similar to those of the typical form. The direction 

 of the rhizome is vertically oblique, the new scales being formed at 

 the deepest end.* 



ff A. second modification of this type of structure I cannot 

 do better than describe in the words of Duchartre (Observations 

 sur le genre Lis, p. 28) : f To give an idea of this development, 

 allow me to report what I have seen in Canadense, as examined at 

 the commencement of the month of March, and, in consequence, at a 

 time when only the first indications of the vegetation of the year 

 were observable. At the base of the stem, which had flowered the 

 preceding year, and of which there remained only a small portion 

 hidden in the ground, was found the bulb from which that stein had 

 issued forth, a bulb formed of short scales, still fleshy and fresh for 

 the most part, pointed and laxly imbricated, which, taken as a whole, 

 was about twice as broad as deep. Immediately above this bulb was 

 the remainder of the old stem, bearing a ring of root-fibres now dead 

 and dried up. Finally, the extreme base of this same old stem was 

 prolonged below the bulb with a diameter nearly double that which 

 it had above ; and after half an inch or more it ended by a broad 

 truncation. It is from this old stem which has flowered in the 

 preceding year, immediately below the old bulb, and very likely from 

 the axil of a scale that has fallen, that the horizontal branch is 

 originated, which at its extremity bears the new bulb from which the 

 conical summit of the shoot, which will soon develop e into the flower- 

 stem of the year, is already seen to arise. This rhizome does not 

 reach a length of more than 1 inch or 1 inch. From its points of 

 origin it descends a little into the soil, then raises itself to become 

 horizontal, and finally rises at its extremity to form the axis of the 

 new bulb, and to be finally continued as the new flower-stem. In 

 its underground progress it bears small spiral scales, thick and fleshy, 

 of which the first are slightly spaced, but those at the end of this 

 subterranean branch grow closer and larger, forming thus the new 

 bulb. From the anterior portion of this rhizome, especially from 

 the part that bears the lower part of the young bulb, arise numerous 

 thickish rootlets, on the healthy action of which the vitality of the 

 new vegetation evidently depends. Later on in the year the old 

 bulb disappears, the horizontal rhizome thus becoming free. Then 



* It may be observed that Washingtonianum loses its elongated or sub-rhizomatous 

 character of bulb growth when cultivated in our gardens, the bulbs assuming a more 

 regular or typical ovoid habit. 



