Are bulbs modified stems?

Is an onion a bulb?

The onion (Allium cepa L., from Latin cepa “onion”), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. Its close relatives include the garlic, shallot, leek, chive, and Chinese onion.

These bulb impersonators are actually stem and root parts. Known as tubers, tuberous roots, corms and rhizomes, these plants can also bring forth glorious blooms in your garden. Caladiums are a tuber, like a potato. Photo Credit: Jennifer Manning. Also grown as a dramatic cutflower, gladiolus is an example of a corm.

A well-known example is an onion. Bulbs are often described as tunicate or non-tunicate based on their structure. A corm is similar to a true bulb in that it is an enlarged, underground stem with a basal plate.

A plant cutting is a piece of a plant that is used in horticulture for vegetative (asexual) propagation. A piece of the stem or root of the source plant is placed in a suitable medium such as moist soil. Some plants can be grown from leaf pieces, called leaf cuttings, which produce both stems and roots.

This is a picture of whole bulbs of garlic. It is made up of 10-16 cloves, and each clove is covered in a papery like skin. (Note from Jon Sacker: “It’s worth pointing out to the ‘startcooking’ readers that one can of course simply ease a single clove or two away from the bulb and then top and smash that.

A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ used by some plants to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation).

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or simply ginger, is widely used as a spice or a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of leaves) about a meter tall bearing narrow leaf blades.

Corms. If any of the characteristics that identify true bulbs are missing, the plant isn’t a true bulb. Instead, it’s a corm, tuber, tuberous root, or rhizome. Popular corms include crocosmia, gladiolus, freesia, and crocus.

Examples of plants that are propagated this way include hops, asparagus, ginger, irises, Lily of the Valley, cannas, and sympodial orchids. Some rhizomes which are used directly in cooking include ginger, turmeric, galangal, fingerroot, and lotus.

Garlic is widely used around the world for its pungent flavor as a seasoning or condiment. The garlic plant’s bulb is the most commonly used part of the plant. With the exception of the single clove types, garlic bulbs are normally divided into numerous fleshy sections called cloves.

Spring flowering bulb stock images, including tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus, bulb planting, bulbs in store displays, bulbs in gardens, summer blooming bulbs such as canna, calla lilies, gladiolus, lycoris, agapanthus, alstroemeria, bletilla orchids, crocosmia, Oriental lily, Asiatic lilies, fall flowering, bulbs

Bulb is a term given to plants that have fleshy underground storage structures, but only some of the plants commonly called bulbs are actually true bulbs. Tubers are also bulbs by this definition, but they are not true bulbs. A true bulb and a tuber are different in appearance and in how they grow.

Stem Modifications. A rhizome is a modified stem that grows horizontally underground; it has nodes and internodes. Vertical shoots may arise from the buds on the rhizome of some plants, such as ginger and ferns. Corms are similar to rhizomes, except they are more rounded and fleshy (such as in gladiolus).

It functions as a pore, providing a pathway for the direct exchange of gases between the internal tissues and atmosphere through the bark, which is otherwise impermeable to gases. The name lenticel, pronounced with an [s], derives from its lenticular (lens-like) shape.

The true bulb is a layered structure filled with plant carbohydrates with a plant shoot in the core. It has a basal plate where roots grow, fleshy scales or layers, the outer skin, the shoot at the center flanked by developing bulbets. Common spring bulbs, like daffodils and tulips, are true bulbs.

The first root that comes from a plant is called the radicle. A root’s four major functions are 1) absorption of water and inorganic nutrients, 2) anchoring of the plant body to the ground, and supporting it, 3) storage of food and nutrients, 4) vegetative reproduction and competition with other plants.

Corm, vertical, fleshy, underground stem that acts as a food-storage structure in certain seed plants. Corms are sometimes called solid bulbs, or bulbo-tubers, but they are distinguished from true bulbs and tubers (compare bulb; tuber).

Thorn – A sharp pointed modified stem. Spine – A sharp pointed structure that is a modified leaf or stipule. Prickle – A sharp outgrowth from the epidermis or bark. A thorn is a modified stem and can be recognized because it is subtended by a leaf.

The onion (Allium cepa L., from Latin cepa “onion”), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. Its close relatives include the garlic, shallot, leek, chive, and Chinese onion.

Storage roots, such as carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes, are examples of roots that are specially modified for storage of starch and water. They usually grow underground as protection from plant-eating animals. Their roots allow the plants to absorb water and nutrients from other plants.