15 BULB PLANTS: names, characteristics, photos and VIDEO

Table Of Contents

Plants with bulbs: characteristics
Reproduction of bulbous plants or bulbous plants
Garlic, one of the most famous bulb plants
Onions
Tulips, bulb plants and colorful flowers
Fire lily
Dog tooth
Other easily grown bulbous plants

Help the development of the site, sharing the article with friends!

There are many types of plants and, each of them, has managed to evolve to adapt as best as possible to the environment in which it is found. One of the clearest examples of adaptation is found in plants with bulbs, which are characterized by having a larger organ than the rest of the plant's organs that remains buried all the time and that constitutes a constant source of food. for the plant, which makes it more likely to survive in environments where conditions are not very favorable. If you want to know more characteristics about this type of plants, as well as know the names of 15 bulb plants that you can grow at home or in the garden, keep reading Green Ecologist and we will tell you about it. For example, the plant in the cover image is a lily or trumpet, the plant of which has a long stem with leaves and flowers in this form, but has bulbs at its base.

Plants with bulbs: characteristics

The bulbous plants they 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 plants with bulbs present advantages over other plants that lack this type of underground organs. First of all, this allows them to adapt their growth cycle to the seasons and weather conditions. As the bulb constitutes a reserve of water and food, plants with bulbs can enter a dormant phase during the 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. Fire burns the outside of 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 its evolutionary success. Also, most of these bulbs can be planted in water and on land.

Reproduction of bulbous plants or bulbous plants

The reproduction of bulbous plants it can be done in different ways. On the one hand, we find the sexual reproduction that takes place 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 the 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 becoming 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.

Garlic, one of the most famous bulb plants

Its scientific name is Allium sativum, it is one of the most widely cultivated bulb plants in the world, as it is widely used 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.

Onions

The scientific name of the 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 cultivated for food or culinary and medicinal purposes, since in addition to many nutrients it also adds great flavor to dishes.

Tulips, bulb plants and colorful flowers

Whose scientific name is Tulipa, It is one of the most widely 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 know each other more than 150 different species of tulips, fruit, in part, of the genetic improvement works that have been practiced in this type of plants since the 16th century. In this other Green Ecologist 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.

Fire lily

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 especially easily after the flames destroy the soil surface), which is why it is called in this way. Actually, the entire family of Cyrtanthus (lilies) are specimens that develop from a bulb, so they are a good example of this type of plant.

Dog tooth

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

Other easily grown bulbous plants

Others bulbous plant names which are well known are the following, although some of them have corm (thickened underground stem with swollen base and vertical growth):