308 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDEXIXG. 



In the seed thus lie concentrated all the work of 

 the past, all the hope of the future. With the seed 

 enteiing upon the work of life, we heg-an this series 

 of articles ; with the seed representing the close of 

 the life-history of the plant, we here hring them to 

 an end. 



BULBOUS PLANTS. 



By William Goldring. 



AS SO much of the heauty and interest of our 

 gardens is derived from bulbous plants, they 

 are highly important ; and for this reason, and be- 

 cause they constitute a class of plants so distinct 

 from others, a series of chapters in the present work 

 is exclusively devoted to them. Without bulbs om- 

 open-air gardens would lose a great deal of theii' 

 attractiveness, as they represent fully one-half of 

 the showiest hardy plants, while they are indispens- 

 able for adorning stoves, green-houses, and window- 

 shelves ; in short, it might truly be said that there is 

 not a more popular or more yaluable class of plants 

 than bulbs. A peculiar interest centres around 

 them, inasmuch as they were among the earliest 

 plants cultivated, and probably as long as gardening 

 has existed bulbous plants have been favourite 

 objects of culture. The hardy bulbs especially 

 possess an historical interest, for centuries ago they 

 were loved and cherished by our forefathers, and 

 have been handed down to us absolutely unchanged 

 thi'ough all the vicissitudes they must have seen. 

 Many of the bulbs of to-day, particularly some of 

 the Lilies, Fritillaries, Squills, and Daffodils, are 

 known to have been cultivated fully three hundi-ed 

 years ago, therefore they may tridy be classed among 

 old-fashioned flowers. 



The nature of bulbs has been so well explained 

 by Dr. Masters in the chapters on The Life- 

 History OF Plants (see fii'st volume of this work\ 

 that there is no need to revert to the subject. Any 

 one interested in bulbous plants would do well to 

 re-peruse those chapters relating to the structure, 

 physiology, and varieties of bulbs, and it is quite 

 necessary for a bulb-gi'ower to be well acquainted 

 with the hfe-history of bulbs, as a key to theii' 

 successful cultivation. Those who possess a know- 

 ledge of the natm-e of bulbs are far more likely to 

 succeed in cultivating, them than those who are 

 ignorant of it. As an instance of this, how often 

 do we see the leaves of spring bulbous plants cut 

 off after flowering, while yet green I in ignorance 

 •of the fact that so long as leaves remain green 

 ■on the plant they are adding strength to the biilb, 

 ■and that cutting them away prematurely does much 

 harm by weakening the bulbs. Again, how often 



do people choose bulbs, particularly Hyacinths, by 

 size 1 whereas a knowledge of their nature would 

 suggest that they should be chosen by weight, the 

 heaviest bulbs always proving the best, as those 

 have the strongest flower- spikes in embryo. 



Although there is no need here to inquii-e into the 

 nature of bulbs, a few words are required in order 

 to explain the term bulbous plants," because vague 

 ideas are jDrevalent as to its precise meaning. Com- 

 monly, any plant having a fleshy or tuberous 

 root is classed vdth. bulbs, so that in this sense the 

 tenn has a very elastic application. For instance, 

 tuberous and. fleshy-rooted Anemones, Ranunculuses, 

 Begonias, Achimenes, Caladiums, are often sold as 

 bulbous plants, although none of them are really so, 

 and for this reason these plants are not included in 

 the following chapters on Bulbous Plants, but will 

 fonn a separate chajDter under the head of Tuberous 

 and Fleshy-rooted Plants. Although in a strictly 

 botanical sense tht-re is no sharp line of distinction 

 between bulbs and tubers, the difference between 

 them from a cultivator's standpoint is so well de- 

 fined, that there is little Hkelihood of any one con- 

 fusing the two kinds of roots. Li a broad sense a 

 true bulb is usxially regularly shaped and mostly 

 globose, more or less pointed, the apex being the 

 growing point. Tubers, on the other hand, are usu- 

 ally irregular in shape, and possess no distinct grow- 

 ing point, and are rarely scaly or coated, while true 

 bulbs are nearly all tunicated or coated hke an Onion, 

 or scaly like a Lily bulb, or solid like a Crocus or 

 Colchicuni. To render the term more definite, it 

 might be said that all true bulbs belong exclusively 

 to one of the three great families of monocotyle- 

 donous plants, viz., Aina)-(/Uidacc<^, IridacecB, and 

 LUiacece, and while in these families there are species 

 which have not true bulbous roots, every bulb men- 

 tioned in the following chapters belongs to one of 

 these groups. The term comi " is only used in a 

 strictly botanical sense for a soHd bulb, as that of a 

 Crocus, therefore all corm-bearing plants are in- 

 cluded here. Dr. Masters, in the chapt-ers already 

 refen-ed to, explains the mode of growth in each 

 variety of biUb. tuber, root-stock, or rhizome. 



A family likeness prevails throughout the whole 

 range of bulbous plants, for. although often so dis- 

 similar in stature and general appearance, their 

 flowers invariably possess the same characters, their 

 parts beino- arranged in whorls or sets of three: thus, 

 three or six stamens, tlu-ee sepals, three petals, and 

 so on. 



Bulbs are natives of all parts of the world, and 

 though they are not found in high latitudes, they 

 overrun the tropics, and as the plants of the various 

 regions requii-e different cultural treatment, some 

 knowledge of the plant's native habitat is of ser- 



