LEAF-BUDS. 



21 



(are deciduous), and are then called bulbills or bulblets 9 *. 

 Ex. Lilium bulbiferum. 



170. Often they are of large size, and are formed under- 

 ground ; they are then called bulbs or scaly bulbs 9 91 . 



171. Although the corm (153) is regarded as a kind of 

 underground stem, it may also be considered as a sort of leaf- 

 bud, the centre of which is very large and the scales very thin. 



172. In bulbs, young buds or bulbs then called cloves 

 (nuclei), are often formed in the axils of the scales, as in 

 Garlic ; and then gradually destroy the old bulb by feeding 

 upon it. In like manner corms produce other corms at the 

 axils of their scales, and are destroyed by their offspring. 



173. Thus in some Gladioli 93 94 , an old corm produces the 

 new one always at its point ; the latter is then seated on the 

 remains of its parent, and, being in like manner devoured by 

 its own offspring, becomes the base of the third generation 94 : 

 this process enables such plants by degrees to raise themselves 



.out of the earth in which they were born. 



174. In like manner the Crocus 75 produces two or more 

 corms near the apex, and gradually dies as they develope ; 

 and the Colchicum bears its mother in the form of a shrivelled 

 spungy lump on one side of its base 96 ", while on the opposite 

 side a new bud 966 is prepared by which the now vigorous 

 parent will hereafter perish. 



