Underground stem

Article summary

Underground stems are modified plant parts that derive from stem tissue but exist under the soil surface. They function as storage tissues for food and nutrients, facilitate the propagation of new clones, and aid in perennation (survival from one growing season to the next). Types of underground stems include bulbs, corms, rhizomes, stolons, and tubers. Plants have two structures or axes of growth, which can be best seen from seed germination and growth. Seedlings develop two axes of growth: stems, which develop upward out of the soil, and roots, which develop downward. The roots are modified to have root hairs and branch indiscriminately with cells that take in water and nutrients, while the stems are modified to move water and nutrients to and from the leaves and flowers. Stems have nodes with buds where leaves and flowers arise at specific locations, while roots do not. Plants use underground stems to multiply by asexual reproduction and to survive from one year to the next, usually through dormancy. Some plants produce stems modified to store energy and preserve a location of potential growth to survive a cold or dry period which normally is a period of inactive growth, and when that period is over the plants resume new growth from the underground stems.…

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