NITROGEN-CONSUMING PLANTS 



227 



Leek (A Ilium porrum). A robust biennial plant with small bulbs, 

 native of the Mediterranean region. 



Chives (A Ilium schcenoprasum). A hardy perennial plant bearing 

 small, narrowly ovoid, clustered bulbs with membranous coats. It is 

 a native of Europe, Asia and North 

 America. 



Shallot (Allium ascalonicum) . The 

 bulbs are borne in clusters, but un4ike 

 garlic are not surrounded by a thin 

 membrane. 



Welsh Onion, or Ciboule (Allium 

 fistula sum). This is an annual, or 

 biennial plant with long fibrous roots 

 without bulbs, but the base of the plant 

 is swollen. It grows wild in the Altai 

 mountains and aboujt Lake Baikal in 

 Siberia. 



STEM CROPS 



Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis). 

 The stems of this liliaceous plant are 

 annual arising from fleshy, perennial 

 roots and rootstocks. The young 

 shoots are used as a vegetable. 

 Asparagus is wild in Asia and Europe 

 (Fig. 97)- 



Sugar Cane (Saccharum officinarum) . 

 The stems of this perennial grass are 

 one of the chief sources of commercial 

 sugar. It is extensively cultivated in 

 the tropics. 



Bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea, B. vulgaris] and (Arundinaria nitida). 

 The shoots of the bamboo are eaten in China in the fresh, dried and 

 salted condition. They are also canned for the export trade. 



Kohl-rabi (Brassica oleracea var. caulo-rapa). The enlarged basal part 

 of the cabbage stem is eaten as a vegetable under the above name. 



Udo (Aralia cordata). The blanched stems of thisplant introduced into 

 the United States in 1903 from Japan by Lathrop and Fairchild are used 

 as a vegetable. 



FIG. 96. Median lengthwise section 

 of common onion bulb. (Robbins.) 



