GLADFOLUS FLORIBUN'DUS. 
Variety, roseus 
BUNDLE-FLO’tt'ERED CORN FLAG. 
Class. Order. 
TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
IRIDACEiE. 
Native of 
Ileioht. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
e.GHope. 
1 foot. 
May, July. 
Perennial. 
in 1788. 
No. 631. 
Gladiolus, from the Latin gladius, a sword; in 
allusion to the shape of its leaves. 
It will have been observed by many of our rea- 
ders thatwhat is usually called the root of the Gladi- 
olus is exactly similar to that of the Crocus. It is a 
solid mass of cellular tissue, of a character intermedi- 
ate between the true bulb and the tuber, hence it has, 
by some authors, been appropriately called a bulbo- 
tuber. We would call the attention of our younger 
readers to these distinctions. The true bulb is 
composed of numerous coats, enveloping each other, 
as in the Hyacinth; or of scales, as in the Lily. 
The tuber cannot be better shown than by the 
common Potatoe. These distinctions are evident. 
It should be further borne in mind, that they are 
not the roots of the plant, for these are the fibrous 
appendages which emanate from them. The bulbs 
or tubers are reservoirs of nutriment on which 
we oftentimes see a plant exist and even grow 
almost to perfection w ithout the production of roots 
or the presence of other nutriment than that which 
is yielded by the atmosphere — a portion, by the 
bye, much greater than is commonly suspected. 
