111. =The Corm or Solid Bulb=, like that of Cyclamen (Fig. 103), and of Indian Turnip (Fig. 104), is a very short and thick fleshy subterranean stem, often broader than high. It sends off roots from its lower end, or rather face, leaves and stalks from its upper. The corm of Cyclamen goes on to enlarge and to produce a succession of flowers and leaves year after year. That of Indian Turnip is formed one year and is consumed the next. Fig. 104 represents it in early summer, having below the corm of last year, from which the roots have fallen. It is partly consumed by the growth of the stem for the season, and the corm of the year is forming at base of the stem above the line of roots. [Illustration: Fig. 103. Corm of Cyclamen, much reduced in size: roots from lower face, leaf-stalks and flower-stalks from the upper.] [Illustration: Fig. 104. Corm of Indian Turnip (Arisæma).] 112. The corm of Crocus (Fig. 105, 106), like that of its relative Gladiolus, is also reproduced annually, the new ones forming upon the summit and sides of the old. Such a corm is like a tuber in budding from the sides, i. e. from the axils of leaves; but these leaves, instead of being small scales, are the sheathing bases of foliage-leaves which covered the surface. It resembles a true bulb in having these sheaths or broad scales; but in the corm or solid bulb, this solid part or stem makes up the principal bulk. [Illustration: Fig. 105. Corm of a Crocus, the investing sheaths or dead leaf-bases stripped off. The faint cross-lines represent the scars, where the leaves were attached, i. e. the nodes: the spaces between are the internodes. The exhausted corm of the previous year is underneath; forming ones for next year on the summit and sides.] [Illustration: Fig. 106. Section of the same.] 113. =The Bulb=, strictly so-called, is a stem like a reduced corm as to its solid part (or plate); while the main body consists of thickened scales, which are leaves or leaf-bases. These are like bud-scales; so that in fact a bulb is a bud with fleshy scales on an exceedingly short stem. Compare a White Lily bulb (Fig. 107) with the strong scaly buds of the Hickory and Horse-chestnut (Fig. 72 and 73), and the resemblance will appear. In corms, as in tubers and rootstocks, the store of food for future growth is deposited in the stem; while in the bulb, the greater part is deposited in the bases of the leaves, changing them into thick scales, which closely overlap or enclose one another. 114. =A Scaly Bulb= (like that of the Lily, Fig. 107, 108) is one in which the scales are thick but comparatively narrow. [Illustration: Fig. 107. Bulb of a wild Lily. 108. The same divided lengthwise, showing two forming buds of the next generation.] [Illustration: Fig. 109. A ground leaf of White Lily, its base (cut across) thickened into a bulb-scale. This plainly shows that bulb-scales are leaves.]