MONOCOTYLEDONS. 289 



but ultimately two or more buds develop in the axils of the upper 

 leaves. As they grow they rupture the parent bulb, and are set free, 

 after having absorbed a large amount of nourishment from it. This is 

 especially well seen in a Narcissus bulb. Buds, composed of scale- 

 leaves enclosing foliage-leaves, may also develop in the axils of the 

 outer scale-leaves. See Fig. 110. 



We saw that the Crocus corm contains abundant starcli : 

 what reserve food is present in the Bluebell and these other 

 bulbs ? On testing a sliced bulb with iodine we find that 

 the Bluebell contains very little starch, the Onion none at all. 

 The chief food stored in the Onion is sugar, as can be proved 

 by means of Fehling's test, while the Bluebell bulb contains 

 chiefly a carbohydrate substance called inulin, which resem- 

 bles starch in composition but is soluble in water (less so 

 than most sugars, however). 



The underground life-history of the Bluebell is very 

 interesting, and the main points, as regards external features 

 at any rate, are fairly easy to make out. Young seedlings 

 can be dug up in October or November, older ones in May 

 and June, but if you cannot lind the seedlings in the soil 

 bring some capsules home and sow the black globular seeds. 

 The germination is similar to that of the Onion (Art. 87). 



3O8. The Lily Family (Liliaceae) consists chiefly of 

 perennial herbs with bulbs (Lily, Onion, Hyacinth), rhizomes 

 (Solomon's Seal, Lily of the Valley), or conns (Meadow 

 Saffron) , but the order also includes a few shrubs (Butcher's 

 Broom) or even trees (Yucca, Dracaena). The Butcher's 

 Broom has flat green branches (cladodes), and the true 

 leaves are represented by small scales ; it flowers throughout 

 the colder months of the year, the flowers (borne on the 

 cladodes) usually being dioecious (some with stamens only, 

 others with pistil only). Asparagus also has small scaly 

 leaves and tufts of green (generally needle-like) branches 

 which carry on the functions of foliage-leaves ; sometimes 

 these cladodes are flattened. That the cladodes of Butcher's 

 Broom and A sparagus are really branches is shown by the 

 fact that they bear flowers, and that they arise in the axils 

 of scales (the true leaves) on the stem. 



The flowers are regular and hypogynous. The flower-parts 

 outside of the stamens are all coloured, and do not differ 

 s. B. 19 



