Plants and their children

by Frances Theodora Parsons

Fig. 110

If so, you will be surprised to learn that this potato is not a root at all, but a stem.

You think it looks quite unlike any other stem that you have ever seen. Probably you do not know that many stems grow underneath the ground, instead of straight up in the air.

Fig. 111

Fig. 112

If you find something in the earth that you take to be a root, you can feel pretty sure that it really is a stem, if it bears anything like either buds or leaves. A true root bears only root branches and root hairs. But in this white potato we find what we call “eyes.” These eyes are buds from which new potato plants will grow. Close to these are little scales which really are leaves. So we know that the potato is a stem, not a root. But this you could not have found out for yourselves, even with the sharpest of eyes.

Fig. [111] shows you the thick, fat, underground stem of the cyclamen. From its lower part grow the true roots.

Next you have that of the crocus (Fig. [112]), while here to the right is that of the wood lily (Fig. [113]). This is covered with underground leaves.