THE WHITE LILY 



143 



scale-leaves contain stores of food-material, which were 

 laid by during the previous summer, while the green 

 foliage-leaves were assimilating. When growth begins 

 in spring, the short 

 conical axis of the bulb 

 grows straight upwards 

 into a tall stem, pro- 

 ducing the foliage- 

 leaves, and ultimately 

 the flowers. 



The White Lily is 

 peculiar, inasmuch as 

 it produces two sets of 

 green foliage - leaves. 

 One set appears in 

 autumn, arising at the 

 base of the rudiment- 

 ary flowering stem of 

 the following year. 

 The other set is borne 

 in summer on the tall 

 flowering stem itself. 

 If we examine a plant 

 of the White Lily in 

 autumn, after the 

 flowering stem of the 

 past summer has died 

 down, we see a group of 

 broad lanceolate green leaves, the bases of which are 

 underground, the stem on which they grow being hidden 

 in the earth. These leaves we will call the ground-leaves. 



FIG. 52. General view of flowering 

 stems of Lilium auratum. From 

 a photograph. Much reduced ; the 

 plant was about 6 ft. high. 



