52 
TirE ROOT. 
Fig. 20, at A, shows a "bulb crowded -with turious, 
Bome of which, a a, are in a germinating state. At B 
is a bulb (crocus), showing the turions at a a, while at 
b appeaifs one which is partially developed. 
37. Bulbous plants belong chiefly to tbe 
great division of Monocotyledonous plants ; 
they produce some of the earliest flowers 
of spring. Among them are the hyacinth, 
the crown-imperial, the lily, and the tulip. 
The use of the bulb being to preserve the young plant from the 
efliect of cold, we see the bountiful agency of Providence in the 
number of bulbous plants in cold countries. 
Small bulbs, called hulhlets^ grow upon the stems and branches 
of some plants, as in the tiger-lily and tree-onion ; in the latter, 
the bulbs, or onions, grow upon the stalks, in clusters of four 
or five, continuing to enlarge until their weight brings them 
to the ground, where they take root ; these bulblets are trans- 
formed buds. 
The turnip at a, Fig. 21, has a bulbous, fleshy cau Fig- 21. 
dex, with fibrous roots ; the onion, 6, is a tunicated, 
the Uly, c, a scaly bulb. 
Some bulbs die after the blossoming 
of the plant ; new bulbs are formed from 
the base or sides of the original ones, 
which, in their turn, produce plants. 
This is the fact with respect to the orchis tribe ; in which 
every year one bulb or tuber dies, and the other throws out 
a new stem ; by this means, it changes its position, though 
slowly, since it takes but one very short step each year. 
a. Gardeners take up bulbs as often as once in two or three years. In some 
plants the new bulbs are formed beside the old ones ; thus they become crowded, 
and produce inferior flowers. In many kinds, as the tuhp and narcissus, the new 
bulbs are formed under the old ones, and these become at length too deep in the 
earth ; while the new bulbs of the crocus, gladiolus, and some other plants, grow 
above the old ones, and on account of being too near the sm'face, are liable to be in 
jured by frosts and drought. 
Fig. 22 shows at A, a root of Solomon's seal (Co?i- 
vallaria) : a a are the young bulbs ; b marks the 
spot from which the decayed stalk of the former 
year has fallen ; d d are the fibers or true root of the 
plant. 
At B is a root of the Ixia, or Blackberry-lily ; 
a shows the young bulb formed above the parent 
one, which is withering in consequence of having im- 
parted its vigor to its offspring. 
What was formerly called a bulbous root, is now 
considered a bulbiferous or bulb-bearing root, since 
all that is truly a root is the fibrous part. 
Fig. 22. 
37. Bulbous plants. — o. Reason? for taking uj) bulbous plants. 
