206 HISTORY OF BRITISH PERNS. 



point that the leaves appear to have their origin. Some 

 botanists have held the opinion that it continues to die at 

 the circumference while it grows in the interior, and the 

 appearances presented by the exterior and interior of the 

 tuber seem rather to confirm this view. Prom these tubers 

 are produced the long semipellucid tubular roots, which are 

 either simple or forked near their extremity, and naturally 

 strike downwards almost perpendicularly. Mr. Newman 

 describes the taste of the tubers as being earthy, but not 

 otherwise remarkable. 



The leaves spring from the crown of the tuber, and grow 

 erect to the height of four or six inches, or more. They 

 are persistent, and of an olive-green colour, and their gene- 

 ral form is awl-shaped. The basal portion is dilated and 

 furnished with membranous margins; above this dilated 

 base they are nearly round, or, more exactly, bluntly qua- 

 drangular, being formed of four parallel hollow tubes, which 

 tubes are subdivided at irregular distances by transverse 

 partitions : towards the apex they taper off and terminate 

 in a sharp point. The transverse partitions above men- 

 tioned, being visible through the texture of the leaf, give 

 it a jointed appearance. Owing to their brittleness, they 

 not unfrequently break off at one of these joint-like points, 



