
5) THE GROWTH AND PARTS OF PLANTS 
because they have buds and scale leaves, though the 
rhizome of the bracken fern, the polypody fern (see 
Fig. 93), and some others have large green leaves which 
rise above the ground. The sheep’s-bit scabious has a 
short, thick rhizome. 
STEMS AS STOREHOUSES FOR Foop 
Bulbs are familiar to all of us. They are short 
stems covered with numerous overlapping thick scale 
leaves, as in the onion, the lily, or the tulip. Some 
bulbs, like the snowdrop, have a single stem. Some — 
have several stems, like 
the Chinese lily, or the 
“multiplier onion.” Quan- 
tities of food are stored up 
in the thick scale leaves, 
to be used by the plant as 
the flower and fruit stalk 

Chinese lily there 1s so 
much food in these leaves 
that the bulb will grow if it is placed in a warm room 
with the lower surface resting on broken bits of crockery 
immersed in a vessel of water, so that the fibrous roots 
can furnish moisture. The lily will develop green 
leaves, flower stem, and flowers from the food in the 
Fie. 79. Bulb of hyacinth. 
are being formed. In the 
ee 
