THE STEM 45 
It grows in a similar manner to a bulb, the food 
stored up in the corm serving to nourish the flower and 
fruit. After flowering, the base of the stem becomes 
swollen and forms a new corm which lies dormant 
Fig. 29.—Buds. 
A. Nectarine. a. Axillary bud. 6. Terminalbud. B. Fig. ©. Longi- 
tudinal section of fig bud. 
during the winter, and produces a new plant the follow- 
ing spring. Examples of plants producing corms are : 
Gladiolus and Moraea, Montbretia. 
26. Buds.—We: have already mentioned (par. 24) 
that the stem ends in a bud (fig. 29). This is simply an 
