THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



75 



taken up and divided, but snowdrops 

 always flourish best when undisturbed. 

 They cannot endure continual digging, 

 so they love to grow amongst the grass 

 of the lawn, and will even thrive under 

 the shade of trees ; but they will soon 

 suffer and die out, if the leaves are cut 

 off before they wither, because it is 

 only by their vital functions that the 

 bulbs attain maturity. In the axils of 

 the foliage leaves of certain plants, as 

 the tiger lily ; or the surface of the 

 fronds of various ferns, diminutive 

 bulbs are formed — these grow to a 

 certain extent on the parent plant, 

 then becoming detached, and dropping 

 off, establish an independent existence. 

 Such plants are called "proliferous'' 

 or " bulbiferous/' In a few others 

 such as the onion and ]eek, a sorrel 

 (Polygonum viviparum), and various 

 grasses, the flower becomes transformed 

 into a bulbil. These grow into young 

 plants less or more fully formed 

 before they fall off, and take separate 

 root for themselves. Such plants are 

 called "viviparous.'' Most of them 

 generally produce a certain number of 

 perfect flowers with true seeds as well, 

 thus having two alternative modes of 

 reproduction, and some, as the onion, 

 have three distinct ways — by ordinary 

 multiplication of bulbs, by bulbils on 

 the flower head, and by true seeds. 

 Such are the varied devices assumed 

 by nature to assure the continuity of 

 existence in one individual plant. A 



mature bulb has the power of retaining 

 its vitality unimpaired for a consider- 

 able time : thus the bulbs of hyacinths 

 and tulips, &c., after they have done 

 flowering and the foliage has ripened, 

 are taken up and stored away for several 

 months, to be again planted out in 

 autumn or spring, when, under suitable 

 conditions, their dormant activities will 

 be brought into action. In the snow- 

 drop and daffodil the flowers before 

 they expand are enclosed in a sheathing 

 leaf called a " spathe." The pendent, 

 bell-like blossoms of the snowdrop 

 betoken the presence of nectar, which 

 is secreted at the base of the flower, 

 and its inverted, drooping position 

 preserves it from the action of the 

 rain. As only few bees are astir 

 at this early season when flowers are 

 so scarce, it is a great boon to various 

 winter moths. Its pure whiteness 

 makes the blossoms conspicuous in 

 the dull weather and dark nights of 

 this gloomy period of the year. In 

 the daffodil a peculiar modification of 

 the flower called a " corona" or crown 

 is well seen, forming a tube or cup, 

 which is intimately connected with the 

 preservation of the nectar and the ' 

 guiding of insects to its position. In 

 the true poet's narcissus (Narcissus 

 poeticus), perhaps the most powerfully 

 perfumed flower of the field, the im- 

 maculate purity of its white waxen 

 perianth is delicately relieved by the 

 vermilion rim that fringes its corona. 



