Identifier: plantstheirway00ston (find matches)
Title: Plants and their ways in South Africa
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Stoneman, Bertha, 1866-
Subjects: Plants
Publisher: London, Longmans, Green
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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come enormous. A potato is a tuber. It is the swollen end of an under-. ground branch. That it is a stem may be seen by the eyes which are buds, in the axils of reduced scale leaves. Thetubers become separated from the main plant and each budmay produce a new plant vegetatively. A sweet potato givesoff roots. The lower part is a tuberous root. The upper parthas more the habit of a stem, as new shoots for planting areobtained from it. Stems, more or less swollen, which creep under ground orare partly exposed, are called rhizomes. Plants withrhizomes can spread without being much exposed to the sun. 28 Plants and their Ways in South Africa Bulbs, corms, tubers, and rhizomes are abundant in SouthAfrica and other dry, warm countries. Asparagus, Carrots, many Pelargoniums, and others havefleshy roots for storehouses. Just as stems are found under ground, roots often growabove ground. The Rubber Tree has its large root only partlyburied. The first lateral roots of Zea mays are formed in the
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Fig. 33.—Corms with their tunics . i, Antholyza revoluia, Burm. ;2, Gladiolus alatus, Linn. ; 3, Lapeyrousia Pappei, Baker; 4, Babiana ;5, Synnotia bkolor, Sweet; 6, Romulea longifolia. Baker; 7, Hypoxis ovaia,Linn. Jil. embryo, in the axil of the cotyledon. A circle of roots isformed in the axil of each leaf of the growing plant for somedistance up the stem. Some of these make their way outthrough the leaves and down to the soil where they absorbmoisture and serve to brace the plant. In the East and about Knysna, many of the orchids areepiphytic. Epiphytes cling to other plants but are notparasitic upon them (see p. 98). They form dense masses Further Growth and Duration of Plants 29 of roots some of which serve to fix the plant, while others standout toward the light. They are green and assist the leaves in

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