Propagation by Detached Parts. 183 
thickened by a store of food, and in their axils are smaller 
lateral buds. The terminal bud usually develops into a 
flower, and thus perishes. One or more of the lateral buds 
may develop into flower-buds for the next year, and thus 
continue the life of the plant, as in the common onion (Fig. 
85); or the lateral buds may develop at the expense of the 
parent, as in the potato onion. 
353. Bulblets, or Bulbels, are small bulbs formed in 
the axils of the leaves in certain plants, as the tiger lily,* 
(Fig. 89), or at the apex of the stem, as in the “top ” or bulb- 
bearing onion (Fig. 90). 
Fia. 89. 
Fic. 89. Bulblets iv axils of leaves of tiger lily. 
Fig. 90. Bulblets of “top” onion, sometimes used as onion “sets.” 
354. The Corm (Fig. 91) differs from 
the bulb chiefly in being without scales. 
The food is deposited in the thickened 
stem. The corms of our flowering plants, 
as the crocus, cyclamen etc., are generally 
called bulbs in commerce. 
355. The Tuber, of which the com-  Fic.91. Corm of ero- 
mon potato is the most familar example, a oe 
differs fromthe corm in being the end of ,¥¢F- 
an underground branch of the stem (115), instead of de- 
* Lilium tigrinum. 
