THE WAY IN WHICH NEW PLANTS ARISE 135 



may increase in thickness, and develop its sheathing 

 scales in such manner as to form an onion or other 

 bulbs. The buds in the upper axils of a shoot may 

 also exhibit this same action, but the resultant 

 structures are generally smaller and are termed 

 hulhils or hulhlets by some authors. Thus the onion 

 may produce the last-named formations on the 

 upper ends of its stems. In this instance the bulb- 

 let replaces the flower bud. This behavior may be 

 noted in the cultivated onion as well as in the wild 

 garlic {Allium vineale L.), meadow garlic [Allium 

 Canadense.L.), sometimes in the wild onion {Allium 

 mutabile Michx). 



The conversion of a leafy bud into a bulblet is 

 to be seen in the tiger lily, in which small blackish 

 bulblets covered with three or four scales are to be 

 found in the upper axils. These may germinate as 

 soon as they fall to the ground, and sometimes send 

 out roots before they are detached from the parent 

 plant. The bulblets of the lily as well as those of 

 the dioscorea, a member of the yam family, will 

 endure long periods of drought and low temperature 

 without injury. 



The bulb-bearing loosestrife, found in marshes and 

 damp thickets in Northern United States, forms 



