70 NATURE TEACHING. 



leaves and protecting them from the cold are 

 often met with. 



4. We have already seen in the ginger the 

 dry scale-leaves wrapping over the underground 

 buds, and that when these buds grow into 

 leafy shoots these scale-leaves wither away. 

 In other plants underground leaves are found 

 which act as storehouses of food. The com- 

 mon * lilies ' of the West Indies or an onion 

 serve as good examples, and on digging up 

 one of their bulbs, it will be readily seen that 

 the thick, fleshy structures which comprise it 

 are really only the thickened bases of leaves 

 which now serve to contain starch and other 

 food reserves. That is to say we find leaves 

 in these plants performing exactly the same 

 duties which the stern does in the ginger and 

 potato, and the root in the radish and cassava. 



5. In the climbing lily (Gloriosa superba) 

 the end of each leaf forms a whip-like tendril, 

 which is sensitive and able to curl round a 

 support and so enable the plant to climb. The 

 1 cat's claw' (Bignonia Unguis-cati), not uncom- 

 mon in West Indian gardens, is another very 

 interesting example, each leaf having three 

 stout claws which catch on to rough places, 

 such as walls and tree-bark and support the 

 plant. 



