Bulbs, Corms, Tubers and Rhizomes
These botanical terms refer to plant parts that have developed into underground storage systems to ensure that the plant can complete a full flowering / seeding cycle even under extremes of heavy winters of summer droughts.
Bulbs: include Narcissus, Lily, Tulip, Fritillary, Ornithogalum, Squill and Hyacinths.
A bulb consists of underground fleshy leaves functioning as a food reserve. This enables a plant to lie dormant when water is unavailable during a drought and then to resume active growth when the temperature/precipitation levels allow.
Corms: include Gladioli, Crocus
These are often similar in appearance to bulbs externally, they have roots from their base and there are buds on the upper surface which will develop into leaves and flowers. The difference is inside a bulb is made up of fleshy layers, whereas a corm is solid.
Both bulbs and corms propagate miniature versions of themselves which will develop into new plants.
Rhizomes: include Common Iris, Arums
These are fleshy, horizontally creeping underground stems. New shoots form along rhizomes as they grow in length, this creates more flowers and leaves spreading away from the original start point. This is another way of propagating a plant and if severed each part will develop separately.
Tubers Stem / Root: include Asphodels
These are thickened storage organs, either at the soil surface or along the line of a root (a potato for example). These grow for one season and then are depleted as the plant grows anew after dormancy. New ones develop on another part of the root system over the next growth period.
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