THE STEM. 



13 





persist as dry scales on the fleshy mass of the roots tock, after the decay of the aerial 

 portions. 



In Carex (fig. 36) each shoot remains under ground during the first year of 

 its existence ; it rises in the spring of the second year, makes a tuft of leaves, 

 and emits from the 

 axil of the lowest of 

 these a shoot, which 

 lengthens during its 

 first year, as i+s pre- 

 decessor did. In the 

 autumn the two-year- 

 old shoot loses its 

 leaves, but the axis, 

 sheltered by their 

 persistent bases, 



lengthens, and sends 

 up flowers and leaves 

 in the spring of the 

 third year, when it 

 dies. During the fol- 

 lowing autumn the 



flowering stem fruits and dies, together with the old shoot that produced it, 

 but the second year's shoot, which has now produced a tuft of leaves, will in 

 its turn flower in the following year. A shoot of Carex thus requires three years 

 for its full development. 



The stem is stoloni- 

 ferous (c. stolonifer) when 

 creeping shoots (JlageUum} 

 spring from the axils of its 

 lower leaves, develop ter- 

 minal tufts qf leaves, then 

 rise, and produce root- 

 fibres below the tufts 

 (Creeping Buttercup; Straw- 

 berry, fig. 37). The rosette 



. is the tuft Of 



36. Carei. Definite rhizome. 



ST - Strawberry. Creeping .tern. 



leaves produced on the lateral shoots of succulent plants (Honseleek}. 



The stem may present both stolons and rootstock when some of the lower 

 brandies are underground, and others aerial and creeping '(Clnbmoss). 



The bulb (bulbus, Lily, fig. 38) is a subterranean swollen stock, consisting, firstly, 

 of a more or less convex fleshy disk (lecus, L), which below gives rise to the roots ; 

 secondly, of fleshy, closely-appressed coats or scales (E) borne on the disk ; thirdly 

 of a more or less central shoot (T), equally borne by the disk, protected by the 

 coats, and formed of rudimentary leaves and flowers ; fourthly, of one or uni- 

 lateral shoots, called doves (bulbuli), destined to reproduce the plant. 



