286 



MONOCOTYLEDONS. 



Visit plants at intervals, so as to observe all the changes 

 which occur from the time the leaves and flowers emerge 

 from the soil until the ripe capsule opens to let the seeds be 

 scattered by the wind. Dig up a few plants each time you 

 visit a place where Bluebells grow ; a useful plan is to thrust 

 sticks into the soil to mark the positions of the plants, so 

 that you can get the underground parts after the leaves and 



Fig. 108. Bluebell Bulbs. 

 A and B show the wrinkled contractile root which pulls the bulb down into the soil. 



flowering shoots have died down. " The Bluebell is a plant 

 which carries on a considerable part of its activity under- 

 ground. At all times of the year some work is going on, 

 and although much of it is hidden from view, a study of 

 this underground history constitutes one of the most inter- 

 esting phases in the life-cycle of the plant." l 



Woodhead, "Notes on the Bluebell," Naturalist, 1904. 



