SPRING BLOSSOMS. 219 



preceding year. Even the very flower-buds them- 

 selves are aheady present in a very simple rudi- 

 mentary shape ; and, as soon as tlie warm weather 

 begins to return, the heads of bh)Ssoni push their 

 way up boldly through the soil, relying for mate- 

 rial to supply their growth on the bulb beneath 

 them. As soon as the flowering season is over, 

 the old bulb becomes empty and flaccid; it has 

 been drained of the starches by the opening flow- 

 ers ; and then the leaves of tlie new year begin to 

 form a second bulb for the next season, storing it 

 afresh with yet another granary of st.«rch and 

 similar food-stufls. This flaccid condition of the 

 used-up bulb is particularly well seen in hyacinths 

 grown in the common colored glass specimen 

 vases. A bulb, in short, is simply a means of stor- 

 ing up nutriment one season for the supply of the 

 ])lant during the early months of the next succeed- 

 ing one. 



Almost the only very early spring flowers which 

 do not thus depend for nourishment upon bulbs 

 or tubers are those of shrubs and trees ; and even 

 here the underlying difference is rather apparent 

 than real ; for in woody plants the starclies and 

 other useful materials of growth are stored up in 

 the branches and stem, just as they are stored up 

 in underground bulbs or tubers by the more soft 

 and succulent herbs like daffodils and lilies. Thus 

 in the very coldest months of winter the yellow 



