280 MONOCOTYLEDONS. 



entire bud and of each part you remove from it. Notice first 

 the scales : how many are there, how are they inserted 

 (trace each one carefully to its base), how do they resemble 

 the scales you picked off the corm itself, and how do they 

 differ from these ? Next notice the young yellowish or green 

 foliage-leaves, each having a broad base inserted like a ring 

 around the lower part of the bud ; this part is not easy to 

 make out clearly, so you may have to try several buds. 



What do you find in the centre of the bud? In most 

 cases you will find one or (in some Crocuses) several tapering, 

 pear-shaped bodies covered by a papery sheath, and tapering 

 to a point above and into a stalk below. Each of these 

 bodies is a flower-bud, containing a young flower. Notice 

 the long tube ending above in six pointed oval lobes ; the 

 stamens (how many ?), which are already very large as 

 compared with the " petals " ; the style, ending in the three 

 fan-like stigmas. 



Now examine some Crocus plants in flower and in earlier 

 stages of growth, or plant some corms in moist sawdust 

 or soil and watch their growth. Notice the swelling and 

 upward growth of the buds; the roots which spring from 

 the base of the corm, arranged in a ring ; the sheath, con- 

 sisting of the enlarged bud-scales, which covers the young 

 shoot until it has grown well above the surface of the soil ; 

 the bursting of the scaly sheath and the appearance of the 

 foliage-leaves, which are now bright green in colour ; and the 

 escape of the flower from its sheath. 



Examine the flower carefully, noting and comparing what 

 you see in flowers in different stages, or in the same flower 

 day by day from the time of its emergence from its sheath. 

 Note the six coloured lobes, three outer and three inner, 

 which form the most conspicuous portion of the flower, and 

 which arise from a funnel-like structure, prolonged below into 

 a long narrow tube. The tube, funnel, and lobes together 

 form the perianth. 



Note the three stamens, each consisting of a long anther 

 (showing the four pollen-sacs very distinctly) and a short 

 filament : the latter is inserted on the mouth of the flower- 

 tube, opposite a " sepal," and the stamen is spear-shaped 

 owing to the anther being produced into a sharp point on 

 each side of its base (where the filament is attached). Note 



