15 bulb plants

The plants bulbs are plants like any other. However, instead of developing roots below the stem, they develop the so-called bulb, from which some roots will sprout later. The bulb is an organ of this type of plant that is characterized by having the classic shape of the onion (in fact, the onion is the bulb of this plant). Most of the bulbs will adopt this form of onion, either larger or smaller, developed in layers or in segments, as well as in some shades or others. However, you can also find plants that develop organs similar to bulbs, such as tubers or rhizomes. These types of plants are usually also classified as ” bulbous plants“, although in reality their subterranean organs present enough differences so that they are not called bulbs in themselves.

There are many elements that make bulbous plants have advantages over other plants that lack this type of underground organs. First, this allows them to adapt their growth cycle to the seasons and climatic conditions. As the bulb constitutes a reserve of water and food, plants with bulbs can enter a dormant phase during winter and, in spring, sprout again during the time when the weather is favorable.

In addition, the fact that most of the plant can survive without the aerial part for long periods, makes them plants that tend to survive fires easily. The fire burns the outside of the plants, but not the underground. Plants that have conventional roots tend to die after fires, but bulbous plants tend to recover fairly easily , which also partly explains their evolutionary success. Also, most of these bulbs can be planted in water and on land.

The reproduction of bulbous plants can be done in different ways. On the one hand, we find the sexual reproduction that is carried out from the pollination of the flowers that will give rise to new specimens of plants with bulbs from seeds.

On the other hand, plants with bulbs can also reproduce through so-called suckers or bulblets . These suckers are nothing more than small bulbs that grow close to the main bulb of the plant and that, in the case of getting separated from the original plant, will develop as independent plants. In this case, as it is not a sexual reproduction, there is no combination of DNA from several plants, so the plants that develop from suckers will be genetically identical to the original plant.

There are many bulbous plants that can be grown very easily. In fact, some of them are very common plants that are part of both our daily diet and the more traditional ornamental decoration with flowers. Some of them are as follows.

Its scientific name is Allium sativum , it is one of the bulb plants that is most cultivated in the world, since it is used very widely in most gastronomic traditions. There is documentation that testifies that its culinary use dates back more than 7,000 years.

One of the curiosities of this bulbous plant is that it is no longer known in the wild, but only develops well when it is planted and cultivated by human hands. However, there are other types of garlic less used for consumption that are wild garlic .

The scientific name for onions is Allium cepa . There is a wide variety of onions around the world, but all of them have a bulb that constitutes the main part of the plant. Like garlic, it is grown for food or culinary and medicinal purposes, since in addition to many nutrients it also adds great flavor to dishes.

Whose scientific name is Tulipa , it is one of the most used ornamental bulb plants in the world. Its name comes from the characteristic shape of its flower, whose petals form an almost perfect cylindrical space.

They are known more than 150 different species of tulips , fruit, partly from breeding work carried practicing in these plants since the sixteenth century. In this other AgroCorrn article we tell you how to care for potted tulips . In addition, we leave you here an explanatory video about the care of these well-known plants.

The scientific name of the fire lily is Cyrtanthus contractus , it is a lily that is characterized by its reddish color and its ability to survive fires (since the bulb regenerates with special ease after the flames destroy the surface of the ground), reasons why it is called this way. Actually, the entire Cyrtanthus family (lilies) are specimens that develop from a bulb, so they are a good example of this type of plant.

Another of the bulbous or bulbous plants is the dog’s tooth , whose scientific name is Erythronium . It has about 30 species, most of them original from North America. Although it is mainly used as an ornamental plant, its bulb is also an edible part of the plant.

Other names of bulbous plants that are well known are the following, although some of them have corm (thickened underground stem with a swollen base and vertical growth):

• Crocus (Crocus)
• Daylilies (Lilium)
• Freesias (Freesias)
• Gladioli or gladiolas (Gladiolus)
• Iris (Iris)
• Daffodils (Narcissus)
• Garden anemone (Anemone)
• Dahlias (Dahlia)
• Hyacinths (Hyacinthus)
• Nazarenes (Muscari)