GROWTH OF PLANTS INDEPENDENTLY OF SEEDS 65 



very well seen in the Autumn Crocus, a plant belonging to the 

 Lily order and not to the true crocuses. It grows in pastures, and 

 flowers the end of August. It is very like the Purple Crocus. 

 The new corms are formed on one side of, and a little below, the 

 old one. When the corms have reached a certain depth, about 

 7 or 8 inches, they do not penetrate any deeper, but spread 

 laterally. 



The life-history of a Crocus may be summed up i. It develops 

 from a corm, which is a swollen stem with roots on the lower, 

 and a bud on the upper, surface. In its earliest stage everything 

 is beneath the ground. 



2. The flowers and leaves come above ground ; the corm 

 shrivels, for it is feeding these organs. 



3. Buds are produced in the axil of one or more leaves. The 

 food made by the blades of the leaves is stored up in these buds, 

 which develop into corms, having the structure described in i. 



With the Crocus may be compared the Montbretia. If Mont- 

 bretia plants are dug up in 

 October, old corms will be 

 found under new ones, as in 

 the Crocus, but in addition 

 to this, long runners or 

 underground stems are also 

 found at the end of the 

 summer. These, swelling 

 up at their ends, form fresh 

 corms at some distance from 

 the mother plant, in order 

 to get food material from 

 a new area. In this way 

 the plant is propagated and 

 spreads rapidly in a garden. 



Both corms and bulbs 



have the power Of forming FlG - 37- Corm of Montbretia. st, underground 

 r stem; r, root. 



contractile roots. In cro- 

 cuses grown in the open these are found in the months of 

 April or May at the base of the young corms. They grow 

 rapidly, sometimes through the old corm, and pull down the 

 VOL. in. 5 



