MODE OF LIFE IN PERENNIALS. 



31 



76. In some perennial herbs, prostrate stems or branches 

 under ground are thickened with this store of nourishment for 

 their whole length, making stout Rootstoclcs, as they are called ; as 

 in Sweet Flag, Solomon's Seal (Fig. 63), and Iris, or Flower-de- 

 Luce (Fig. 64). These are perennial, and grow on a little way 

 each year, dying oif as much behind after a while ; and the newer 

 parts every year send out a new set of fibrous roots. The buds 

 which rootstalks produce, and the leaves or the scales they bear, 

 or the scars or rings which mark where the old leaves or scales 

 have fallen or decayed away, all plainly show that rootstocks are 

 forms of stem, and not roots. The large round scars on the root- 

 stock of Solomon's Seal, which give the plant its name, (from 

 their looking like impressions of a seal,) are the places from 

 which the stalk bearing the leaves and flowers of each season 

 has fallen off in autumn. Fig. 63, a is the bud at the end, to 

 make the growth above ground next spring ; h is the bottom of 

 the stalk of this season ; c, the scar or place from which the stalk 

 of last year fell ; d, that of the year before ; 

 and e, that of two years ago. "(J"|! 



77. Finally, the nourishment for the next 

 year's growth may be deposited in the leaves 

 themselves. Sometimes it occupies all the 

 leaf, as in the Houseleek (Fig. 65) and other iri». 



fleshy plants. Here the close ranks of the 

 thickened leaves are wholly above ground. 

 Sometimes the deposit is all in the lower 

 end of the leaf, and on the ground, or un- 

 derneath, as in common Bvlhs. Take a 

 White Lily of the gardens, for example, in 

 the fall, or in spring before it sends up the 

 stalk of the season (Fig. 66). From the 

 bottom of the bulb, roots descend into the 



65 



Houseleek. soil to absorb moisture and other matters 



from it, while, above, it sends up leaves to digest and convert these matters into 

 real nourishment. As fast as it is made, this nourishment is carried down to the bot- 



