tuber
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Tubers are produced underground from stems, as in the potato, or from roots, as in the dahlia. Tubers can grow into new plants.
Swollen region of an underground stem or root, usually modified for storing food. The potato is a stem tuber, as shown by the presence of terminal and lateral buds, the ‘eyes’ of the potato. Root tubers, for example dahlias, developed from adventitious roots (growing from the stem, not from other roots) lack these. Both types of tuber can give rise to new individuals and so provide a means of vegetative reproduction.
Unlike a bulb, a tuber persists for one season only; new tubers developing on a plant in the following year are formed in different places. See also rhizome.
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