What is the role of the tunic on a tunicate bulb?

A tunicate bulb has a paper-like covering or tunic that protects the scales from drying and from mechanical injury.

What are geophytes plants?

Geophytes are plants typically with underground storage organs, where the plants hold energy and water. A broad synonym for a geophyte is bulb, but they are far more diverse than that: Geophytes also include plants with tubers, corms or rhizomes.

How do geophytes reproduce?

Geophytes, the plants that form vegetative storage organs, are characterized by a dual reproduction system, in which vegetative and sexual propagation are tightly regulated to ensure fitness in harsh climatic conditions.

Is a rhizome a Geophyte?

Ginger, bamboo and irises are geophytes with underground stems known as rhizomes. Rhizomes grow horizontally in the soil and have nodes from which leaves can grow.

What is the difference between tunicate and non tunicate bulbs?

A tunicate bulb has a papery, outer scale called a tunic that helps prevent it from drying out. Examples include onion, garlic, narcissus, and amaryllis. A non-tunicate bulb does not have a papery outer coating. Instead, it has outer scales that are succulent and separate, giving the bulb a scaly appearance.

What is scaly bulb?

In bulb. The other type, the scaly bulb, as seen in true lilies, has naked storage leaves, unprotected by any papery covering, that make the bulb appear to consist of a series of angular scales. Bulbs can vary in size from insignificant pea-sized structures to those of large crinum lilies (Crinum…

What plants grow in caves?

Cave Moss. Mosses, liverworts and other bryophytes can thrive near the entrances of caves. Mosses prefer more light, and liverworts can survive with less. These and other plants that live near the cave entrance are ​threshold cave plants​.

Do rhizomes multiply?

Rhizomes multiply by forming buds, but you can basically cut off any part of one and propagate an entirely new plant. Tubers — These are thick, swollen stems that tend to grow just below the surface of the soil.

How do rhizomes reproduce?

Unlike roots, rhizomes have nodes. The nodes of rhizomes send out roots into the soil to perform asexual reproduction by vegetative propagation. Often roots grow from the bottom part of the rhizome while shoots grow from the upper portion of the nodes.

Are bulbs perennials?

In nature all bulbs are perennial. That is what the bulb part is for – to perpetuate the plant by storing energy either through a cold winter or a hot summer. However, in a garden situation bulbs can vary depending on the conditions. Some come back every year and some just peter out.