CHAPTER XVII 



Tubers— Starch 



There are some shoots which are destined 

 to an independent existence, which do not 

 store up food or thicken their scales before 

 separating from the parent plant, but the 

 branch itself is responsible for their support. 

 When the branch is to be the future food of 

 the shoots that it bears, instead of coming 

 into the air, where it would be covered with 

 leaves and flowers, it remains underground, 

 with only the remains of scales instead of 

 leaves. It grows corpulent and so shapeless 

 that it is no longer called a branch, and 

 receives the name of tuber. As soon as the 

 provision is sufficient the tuber is detached 

 from the parent plant, and henceforth the 

 shoots that it bears find in it abundant food 

 for an independent existence. A tuber is an 

 underground branch, swollen with alimentary 

 matter, with poor scales instead of leaves and 

 covered with shoots that it has to feed. 



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