THE VERNAL HABIT 161 



rate from the parent corm and form new plants. The 

 spring-beauty (Claytonia) and the pepper-and-salt (Erigea) 

 are other common spring flowers which arise from corms. 



E. Stools. — Some garden plants, like the canna, form 

 what are called stools by which they are propagated. 

 These stools are composed of both the bases of the stems 

 and the tops of the roots, in both of which food is stored. 

 The clustered, fleshy roots of the dahlia are used in its 

 propagation, and they also are called stools. 



49- The Vernal Habit. — Underground stems have 

 much to do with what is called the vernal habit. Vernal 

 means having to do with the spring of the year. It is in 

 spring that flowers bloom in abundance in the woods. 

 These are not the flowers of summer or fall. They are 

 flowers which are gone before summer comes, flowers which 

 are peculiar to spring, flowers which reach their greatest 

 abundance in late April or early May, flowers which do 

 much to make spring the most attractive season of the 

 year and botany an interesting study. Soon after the 

 flowers, or with them, the leaves of these plants appear, 

 and before the leaves of the trees are full grown, before the 

 shade they make has become dense, the principal work of 

 these lowlier plants is done. Their season of growth and 

 reproduction is finished even before summer comes, and 

 they are ready to rest until spring comes again. It is this 

 habit of growth and reproduction before the leaves of the 

 trees are out that is called the vernal habit. 



The vernal habit illustrates well the apparent capacity 

 of plants to take advantage of all their opportunities. In 

 what you read about climbing stems you learned something 



