Asexual Propagation: Propagation from Stems and Roots

Some plants produce special underground stems such as tubers, bulbs, and corms that enable them to reproduce asexually. Like all stems, these structures have buds, or nodes, from which new stems branch. Tubers are swollen, fleshy stems with several buds called eyes that produce new plants; an example of a tuber is the potato. Bulbs, such as those found in onions, lilies, hyacinths, and tulips, are short, wide, teardrop-shaped underground stems surrounded by scaly leaves. Corms, such as crocuses and gladioli, are similar, but lack the scaly leaves. Both bulbs and corms make clumps of new bulbs or corms, called offsets, which can be divided and buried in the soil to generate new plants. Irises and ferns produce rhizomes, fleshy stems that grow horizontally beneath the soil, with new plants developing from the tip of the rhizome and from each node on the stem. Stolons, specialized stems found in strawberries and many lawn grasses, are similar to rhizomes but are usually thinner and grow on top of the soil. They also produce new plants at the tip and from the nodes.