Corm facts for kids
A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ used by some plants to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation).
The word cormous is used to describe plants growing from corms, in analogy to the use of the terms "tuberous" and "bulbous" to describe plants growing from tubers and bulbs.
Corms can be dug up and used to propagate or redistribute the plant (see, for example, taro). Plants with corms generally can be propagated by cutting the corms into sections and replanting. Suitably treated, each section with at least one bud usually can generate a new corm.
Images for kids
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Crocosmia corm with the tunic partly stripped to show its origin at the nodes on the corm cortex.
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Crocosmia corm anatomy, showing tunic, cortex of storage tissue, central medulla, and emergence of a new corm from a bud near the top.
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Crocosmia corm with stolons emerging through the tunic. The stolons originate at the axillary buds of the corm scales, and generally produce new corms at their tips
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Gladiolus corm, showing the formation of small cormels at the ends of short stolons
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Corm on Alocasia macrorrhizos
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See also
In Spanish: Cormo para niños
