CHAPTER XVIII 



BULBS AND BULBLETS 



'* A FTER attaining the requisite degree of 

 X~Y strength the buds of certain plants leave the 

 parent stalk and, if we may so express it, emigrate ; 

 that is to say, they detach themselves and take root 

 in the earth, to draw nourishment directly there- 

 from. Now it is evident that a bud designed for 

 independent development cannot have precisely the 

 structure of one destined never to leave the parent 

 stem. To satisfy its first needs before roots capable 

 of nourishing it have been sent down into the soil, 

 it must of necessity have a certain prepared store 

 of nutriment. Therefore every bud that emigrates 

 carries a supply of food with it. 



"There is cultivated in gardens a pretty little lily 

 native to high mountains, bearing orange-colored 

 blossoms, and known as the bulbiferous lily. Here 

 is a piece of the stalk with its buds situated in the 

 axils of the leaves. These buds must pass through 

 the winter and develop the following spring. They 

 are covered with succulent scales, very thick, tender, 

 and fleshy, good for nourishment as well as for pro- 

 tection. This store of provisions makes the bud 

 quite plump. Toward the end of summer some of 

 these buds leave the mother plant; they fall at the 



89 



