32S 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 24, 1858. 
NOTES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF BULBS AND TUBERS. 
By Thilo IrmiSCH. 
(.Abridged from the German original.) 
(Continued from jpage 314.) 
Alstroemeria Pelegrina, L. 
In contradistinction to all those Liliacese which have been 
submitted to examination, the Amaryllidese exhibit lateral 
peduncles and terminal primary buds. It becomes, then, 
matter of interest, to examine such Amaryllidese as are not 
bulbiferous, and which Endlicher calls Anomalse, to see 
whether they, like the true Amaryllidese and Narcissese, have 
lateral peduncles. To this end, 1 have studied Alstroemeria 
Pelegrina, and have arrived at the following result: — 
The horizontal axis from which the more or less tuberiform, 
incrassated roots spring forth, and which are branched at 
their tips, is clothed with short broad scales, or a rather white 
and thin substance. One of these scales (Fig. 1), encloses 
Alstroemeria Pelegrina 
Pig. Imaginary horizontal section 
to explain” the position of the 
leaves, peduncles, &c. 
A, la, 2a, 3a. peduncles. 
1, 2, 3. scales, 
x. second leaf. 
rally a tolerably high, unwithered sheath, merely developed 
into a short lamina; the fourth and fifth are perfect leaves, 
Avhich have, however, a closed sheath, two to three lines high. 
The first stands with its back to last year’s tuber ; the second 
slightly alternates with the first, the angle of divergence being 
about 90°; the third with the second (about. 180°) ; the 
fourth with the third; and, finally, the fifth with the fourth. 
The second and fourth are sometimes to the right of last 
year’s tuber, in which case the third and fifth are conse¬ 
quently to its left, but sometimes the contrary takes place. 
The corresponding internodes are generally undeveloped, and 
the filiform roots clothed with delicate hairs, which are about 
an inch long, and rise from the axis, and in this case perforate 
the base of the leaves. The internodes are rarely so developed, 
that at least those between the lower leaves are no longer con¬ 
cealed by them, in which case the position of the leaves, as in¬ 
dicated above, is not so easily visible. 
Immediately above the fifth leaf, the axis at the time of 
flow r ering is extremely thickened, and on this tuberiform body 
stands the biangular peduncle, clothed only with a few bracts. 
with its margins the young peduncle (1 a), which it is v r ell 
knowui is frequently sterile, and in the axil formed by the 
scale with the peduncle there is a bud. The outer leaf (2) of 
this is placed with its back towards the peduncle, though 
rather obliquely, and encloses again with its margin a peduncle 
(2 a), as also another bud (3), in the axil formed with it, 
which again repeats the same structure. The peduncle, then, 
is terminal, the primary bud axillary, and the plant presents 
entirely in this respect the phenomena of Aloe margaritifera , 
only in the latter everything is plainer, on account of the ver¬ 
tical axis and perfect leaves. The above results can be ob¬ 
tained only in Alstroemeria from the young axis. 
In the axil of the second leaf (x)—the leaf which encloses 
the primary bud reckoned as the first—at the base of the 
peduncle, we frequently observe a second smaller bud. If this 
is developed the main axis becomes branched. 
Liparis Loeselii. 
The remains of the organs of last year are found at the 
base of the flowering plant; they are reduced to a bulb-like 
conical or ovate body, which is, however, compressed on two 
sides, so as to present tw T o flat surfaces and two.rounded 
keels; on the outside are the sheathing bases of many leaves : 
the most external of which are decayed, the innermost, though 
dead, tolerably firm, and threaded by strong longitudinal 
nerves, which are separated from each other by thin pa¬ 
renchyma The innermost sheath has a very narrow orifice, in 
which the nerves coalesce, and the parenchym is much 
thickened. The dry peduncle of the former year often pro¬ 
trudes from this aperture. These sheaths encompass, more or 
less, the base ol this year’s plant. They arise from a generally 
short, horizontal axis, ol but moderate strength, from which 
also the fibrous roots spring, which for the most part per¬ 
forate the leaves, and which now, like the leaves, are dead. 
Alter the sheaths are removed, a firm, green, smooth, almost 
shining tuber is found, about the size of a nail, and still fresh. 
At its base it is united with the portion of the axil which 
bears the leaves, bearing above the withered peduncle, or at 
least exhibiting the scar of its point of attachment. The only 
part of last year’s plant which is fresh is this tuber: on one 
ot its angles there is a hollow, and in this the plant of the 
present year is connected with the tuber. 
In the growing plant ot this year we find always five 
leaves ; the two outer or lower merely consist at the time of 
flowering oi a fissured sheath or lamina ; the third is gene¬ 
Fig. 1. 
Liparis Loeselii. 
Fig. 1. Base of flowrering plant. 
A. axis. 
B. dead roots, 
i. living roots. 
C. outer decayed leaf. 
F. old peduncle. 
Fig. 1. a, b, c, stieatliing scales, 
d, e, leaves, 
f. peduncle. 
Fig. 2. e. point of attachment of 
second leaf. 
f. peduncle. 
g. young tuber. 
h. principal bud. 
A line through the greatest diameter of this tube, if produced, 
passes on the one side through the medial line of the second 
and fourth, and on the other through that of the third and 
fifth leaf, and since the middle nerve of the fourth and fifth 
projects externally like a keel, the base of the young plant 
appears broadly compressed. In the usual case, in which the 
internodes are not developed, the plant of this year is closely 
allied to last year’s tuber, and consequently the larger 
diameter of the first is not in the same direction with that of 
the last, but at right angles to each other. The more the in¬ 
ternodes are extended (and they measure together sometimes 
an inch) the farther the lower leaves are separated from the 
upper, and the young tuber from that of the previous year, 
the less marked is this relation of the young plant to the old 
tuber. 
In the axil formed by the fifth leaf with the young tuber 
there is a little hollow in the latter, containing the young, 
ovate, rather broadly compressed bud, which is to produce 
