I20 Plants and their U'ays in South Africa 



\\'ithiii these bulbs, on tlic tips of slender coiled stems, other 

 bulbs are formed, which send up new plants year after year. 

 Creeping underground stems are called rhizomes. In some 

 rhizomes (e.g. Pteris and Aspidium) the stem remains below 

 and sends the leaves above ground ; more frequently the end 

 appears above ground, while a branch conlinues below to 

 come above the following year. As the old parts die. 

 branches are set free, and so plants are multiplied. 



The Lily growing in the ostrich egg (Fig. 107) had blossoms, 



Fig, 108. — Klcinia articulata. Haw. 



but the seeds did not set ; possibly for lack of food which 

 passed on to form little plants on the tip of each flowering 

 stalk. The little plants send out roots in search of food. If 

 they had been left in the mountain they would have been 

 more successful in their search. They are given a good start 

 in the world, for the wiry stems throw out each plant a long 



becorne wrinkled and much shorter. This shortening pulls the adventur- 

 ous plants down and keeps them sufficiently covered with soil. It is by 

 the pull of drying roots that bulbs with long "necks" are also pulled 

 further down into the soil year by year. Let a bulb dry and see if the 

 roots all wrinkle in the same manner, 



