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What is a Bulb?
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A bulb is an underground plant factory. The neat bulb “package,” wrapped in a papery brown tunic, contains a complete miniature plant along with its food. It hides underground where it is protected from cold winters and dry summers. Flowers that grow from bulbs include tulips, daffodils, crocus, and many others. Onions and garlic are also true bulbs.
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What Does the Inside of a Bulb Look Like?
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| The tunic (papery covering) protects the bulb from damage by insects and disease. It also keeps it from drying out. |
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| The scales hold stored food for the plant (mostly carbohydrates) that will keep the bulb alive during the winter and early spring. If you slice a bulb in half horizontally, you will see rings formed by the scales. |
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| The basal plate on the bottom of the bulb is the part of the bulb where the roots grow from. It also holds the scale leaves together. |
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| The immature leaves, flower buds, and flower stem make up the new plant that will grow and bloom next year. |
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| The roots anchor the bulb to the soil, absorb water and minerals from the soil, and carry the water and minerals to the rest of the plant. |
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The Life Cycle of a Bulb
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| During the winter, the bulb is dormant (inactive). In the spring when the soil temperature warms up, a green shoot grows out of the top of the bulb and the roots begin to grow. With the spring rains, the leaves grow quickly and underground the bulb begins to reproduce (forming little bulbs, called bulblets or offsets, next to the bottom of the bulb). Soon the flowers bloom. After a few weeks, the flowers fade, but the leaves continue to grow for a bit longer. Through photosynthesis, they are producing the food that is stored in the bulb. This food will help the plant live and bloom the next year. At this time, the plant is already starting to develop next year’s flowers inside. After producing the amount of food the bulb needs, the leaves will dry up and die and the bulb again enters its dormant period. But the bulb is still alive underground—just waiting for the next spring to bloom again! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Pictures from Ortho's All About Bulbs, Meridith Publishing, 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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