I. 



WHAT ARE BULBS? 



OTANICALLY speaking, a bulb is an 

 underground stem, and, though generally 

 considered a root, partakes more of the na- 

 ture of a seed. 



Strictly, there are but three kinds of 

 bulbs, the coated, such as the hyacinth and 

 onion, where the scales are large, and, fold- 

 ing around each other, form the bulb ; the scaly, of which 

 the lily is the familiar example, which consist of narrow, 

 fleshy scales, united at the base ; and the solid bulbs, or 

 corms, such as the gladiolus and crocus, which consist of a 

 solid, white, farinaceous mass, and which, perhaps, may be 

 considered as a sort of rounded tuber. 



In popular parlance, however, almost any solid, under- 

 ground stem is called a bulb ; and under this name are 

 included many true tubers, which, in reality, possess little 

 of the bulbous nature. 



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