Tuber facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Potato EarlyRose sprouts
A tuber of potato with growing buds.

Tuber is the thickened part of an underground stem of a plant, such as the potato, with buds from which new plant shoots (stems and young leaves of a new plant) grow.

Most tubers are formed in the ground, but sometimes they can be formed above the ground, in the aerial stems; that is the case of the air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera).

Functions

Tubers stems (or part of stems) are made bigger to store nutrients. Starch (formed by a lot of glucose molecules) is the most commonly stored food in the tubers, although other carbohydrates, such as inuline (formed by many fructose molecules), are stored in the tubers of certain kinds of plants, like the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus).

The purpose of tubers are saving food and reproduction. Under natural conditions, the parts of the stem that connect the tubers with the main stem die in the autumn or winter. The tubers are left in the ground and are able to produce shoots from their buds the following spring.

Potatoes are also artificially reproduced by tuber pieces, called "seed pieces". A tuber is cut into pieces, each with one or more "eyes" (an "eye" of potato is a group of buds covered by very small leaves). These pieces are planted and each produces a new plant from one of its "eyes".

  • Solanum tuberosum 02

    Tuber of potato (Solanum tuberosum).

  • Helianthus tuberosus

    Tuber of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus).

  • Oca

    Tuber of oca (Oxalis tuberosa).

  • Bulbifera

    Aerial tuber of Dioscorea bulbifera.

Tuberous roots

Main page: Root
Ipomoea batatasL ja01
Freshly dug sweet potato plants with tuberous roots.

A tuberous root or storage root, is a modified lateral root, made bigger to function as a storage organ; sometimes these roots are called "tubers" but they are roots, not modified stems like the true tubers. They are thus different in origin but similar in function and appearance to tubers. Examples of plants with important tuberous roots include the sweet potato, cassava, yam and dahlia.

Related pages

Images for kids

  • Ullucus tuberosus (South Peru)

    Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus) tubers

  • Starr 010725-9001 Anredera cordifolia

    Flowers and tuber of Anredera cordifolia

  • Amflora-Feldzerstörung Juli 2010

    Potato plant with revealed tubers


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Tuber Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.