CHAPTER VI 
STORAGE OF FOOD MATERIALS 
Puants often manufacture more food than they need 
during the actively growing season, and then use different 
parts of the body as storehouses. This stored-up food in 
plants has different kinds of protection, and different ways 
in which it serves both plants and animals. 
LESSON XVIII 
Laboratory study of stored foods 
Materials.—Specimens of the root-stalk of Solomon’s- 
seal, false Solomon’s-seal, the rhizome of a fern, potato, 
onion, sweet potato, bulbs of crocus or gladiolus, tubers of 
Dutchman’s-breeches, dog-tooth violet, bloodroot, bitter 
cress, pineapple, banana, orange, some twigs of a healthy 
tree (especially if the lesson is studied during the time de- 
ciduous trees are without leaves). Many other specimens 
will serve equally well. 
Observation and study.—Note the part of the plant used 
as a storage region in the case of each specimen at hand. 
In the white potato the tuber is an underground stem, 
as is shown by the presence of buds or “eyes” upon it. 
In the sweet potato the corresponding storage structure is 
a root. Compare with these the size, form, and arrange- 
ment of other underground storage structures. 
Most plants store their food in the form of starch, 
though this is by no means universal. The presence of starch 
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