BULBS, BULBLETS AND BUDS 



353 



4376. The first three divisions comprise the flowerless plants 

 or cryptogams. They may outnumber the flowering plants, both in 

 kinds and in individual plants. Because of their immense numbers, 

 and especially because their structure and life -histories are capable 

 of throwing so much light upon the structure and evolution of 

 plants, the study of the cryptogamous tribes is of the greatest im- 

 portance to the science of botany. 



LXVIII. BULBS, BULBLETS, AND BUDS 



438. We have now found 

 that plants propagate them- 

 selves by both sexual and sex- 

 less means, for seeds are the 

 product of a sexual process, 

 whereas most spores are not; 



439. A bulb of an Easter 

 lily, taken after the flowering 

 period is past, is shown in Fig. 

 368. It is breaking up into 

 several parts ; and the gar- 

 dener knows that each of these 

 parts is a new bulb, and 

 is capable of multiplying the 

 plant. 



440. If we cut the bulb 

 in two lengthwise, we find a 

 structure like that shown in 

 Fig. 369. There is a main 



Pig. 370. 

 Onion bulbs. 



