11 



TUBERSf AND CORMS. 



UroN the same principle which leads naturalists to 

 rank the whale and the dolphin among land animals, 

 and not among fishes, modern botanists do not con- 

 sider carrots, potatoes, and the like, as roots, but as 

 subterranean stems, because they perform the functions 

 of stems rather than of roots. 



There are three sorts of these subterranean or root 

 stems, the tuber, as in the potato and arrow root ; the 

 corm 1 , as in crocus, meadow saffron, and cuckoo pint, 

 erroneously termed a bulb, as it has no scales ; and 

 the creeping root stem 2 , as in couch grass. 



The rootlike claspers emitted from the stems of ivy 

 and some other plants, are not roots, as is erroneously 

 stated by Professor Lindley. 



BULBS. 



AN instance of rootlets falling off like leaves occurs 

 in those arising from bulbs, such as the lily, the tulip, 

 and onion, which perish and fall off, or rather they are 

 pushed off, as is the case with leaves, by buds contain- 

 ing the rudiments of the rootlets destined to be evolved 

 the succeeding season. These root buds are scarcely 

 observable in autumn, but after Christmas they become 

 very distinct. 



The crown of the root, in such cases, is the thin 

 circular plate at the base of the bulb, and not the bulb 



(i; In Latin, Cormus or Lecus. (2) In Latin, Soboles. 



