284 



MONOCOTYLEDONS. 



when planted. Three or 

 four, or even more, new 

 corms may be developed 

 in this way on the parent 

 corm. Gardeners usually 

 dig up Crocuses after the 

 leaves have withered, and 

 the young corms, which 

 readily break off from the 

 old withered corm, are 

 stored in a dry place until 

 the time comes for plant- 

 ing them. In this way 

 the number of conns is 

 multiplied, and in most 

 cases gardeners do not 

 trouble to raise Crocuses 

 from seed. Hence by the 

 formation of corms the 

 Crocus is not only enabled 

 to last from year to year, 

 i.e. to become a perennial 

 plant; the production of 

 several new corms on each 

 old one is a method of 

 vegetative multiplication, 

 i.e. increase apart from 

 seeds. In Gladiolus (Fig. 

 106) the corms remain 

 connected in chains. 



Now we can explain 

 certain features of the 

 dry Crocus corm. The 

 patch at the base of the 

 corm is the scar where it 

 separated from its parent 

 corm. The brown stringy 

 scales are the withered 

 bases of the bud- scales 

 and the foliage-leaves. 

 Compare carefully the parts of the fresh young corm with 



Fig. 107. Vertical Section of Flower of Iris. 



(After Church.) 



On the left are shown an outer perianth segment, 

 a petaloid style entire, and an inner posterior 

 perianth segment cut in half. On the right 

 an outer anterior perianth segment and a 

 style are cut in half showing a stamen lying 

 between them ; at the back is a lateral inner 

 perianth segment (petal) ; s = stigma. 



