122 INTERESTING PLANTS OF ALPINE PASTURES 



whole plant, as we recognise it later when fully 

 expanded, present in miniature or almost tabloid 

 form ! The internodes of the stem and its branches — 

 that is to say, the portions of the stems between the 

 nodes where the leaves are borne — are very short 

 and compressed. As the stem grows, the internodes 

 lengthen rapidly. 



The underground stem of Veratrum is a stout 

 stock, which is worth digging up and examining. It 

 contains a highly poisonous substance, the alkaloid 

 known as veratrin. The underground stem is, or was, 

 called by herbalists, the "white hellebore root," a 

 misnomer, for the stock is botanically a stem or 

 rhizome, and not a root. 



If we examine the thick roots borne by this 

 underground stem, we shall find they are wrinkled 

 transversely (Plate XXVIII., Fig. 2). We have 

 here a good case of what are called "contractile 

 roots." Similar contractile roots occm- in the case 

 of many other Alpines, such as some of the large 

 Gentians with yellow or red flowers, and they are 

 also very common among bulbous and tuberous 

 plants. By means of these roots, the rhizome, 

 tuber, or bulb, as the case may be, is being pulled 

 downwards continuously, and lowered, so to speak, 

 into the soil, especially when the plant is young. 

 The "Californian Lily," for instance, produces one 

 great, thick, contractile root annually, which draws 

 down the tuber into the soil, from two-fifths to 

 three-fourths of an inch each year. In another case, 



