SPRING FLOWERS 157 



to last year's green foliage-leaves. In the axils of one or two 

 of the outer scales buds may be developing, while the base of last 

 year's flower stalk, which, like the scales, has served for storage 

 of food material, stands in the axil of the uppermost scale. 

 Within these scales, which constitute the bulb formed last year, 

 the shoot continues for the present season. The short region of 

 stem bears similarly three scale-leaves and a few foliage-leaves. 

 In the axil of the uppermost of these is the single flower, while 

 the tip of the shoot is commencing to grow into the shoot of 

 next year. The arrangement of the leaves will be understood 

 from the diagram in Fig. 76. 



The bulb of the Narcissus thus differs from that of the Tulip 

 in that the flower is lateral and does not terminate the shoot. 

 This is therefore capable of giving rise to the shoot of the next 

 season. Another difference lies in the fact that the bulb-scales are 

 here the thickened bases of the leaves of the preceding season. 

 While the main shoot continues, if undisturbed, to grow on 

 year after year, the lateral shoots developed from the bulbs 

 referred to above give rise to small bulbs. As these become 

 free from the main shoot by the decay of its older scales they 

 serve as a means of multiplying the plant vegetatively. Thus 

 from a single bulb a small colony of plants may be derived by 

 vegetative reproduction in the course of a few years. 



The foliage-leaves have, above the sheathing and thickened 

 leaf -base, a long narrow leaf -blade of a bluish-green tint. The 

 midrib is convex below, while the upper surface is concave. 

 The veins, as in the Tulip, run parallel in the blade, and do not 

 form a network. 



The flower, the position of which in the axil of the uppermost 

 foliage-leaf has already been noted, is borne on a long, ribbed, 

 green stalk. A short distance beneath the flower itself is a 

 brownish membranous sheath, which serves to enclose and protect 

 the flower when in bud, and later remains around the base of 

 the flower. This sheath is made up of two bracts, borne on 

 the stalk, joined together. Above the sheath is a very short 

 region of flower-stalk continuing into the flower. This region 

 of the flower-stalk is straight in the bud and until shortly before 

 the flower opens. It then undergoes a bend or curvature, which 



