Dictionary:

rhizome

  (rī'zōm')

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rhizome

Solomon's seal rhizome (Elizabeth Morales)

A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Also called rootstalk, rootstock.

[Greek rhizōma, mass of roots, from rhizoun, to cause to take root, from rhiza, root.]

Botanical term for swollen stem that produces roots and leafy shoots.

For more information on rhizome, visit Britannica.com.

An underground plant stem that develops roots and leaves at nodes along its length, e.g. in bracken, Sorghum halepense.

A horizontal underground stem, often swollen into a storage organ. Both roots and shoots emerge from rhizomes. Rhizomes generally branch as they creep along and can be divided to make new plants.

Ginger rhizome

Iris rhizome

In botany, a rhizome is a horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground and often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Good examples of plants with underground rhizomes include medicinally important ginger and turmeric and the economically damaging weeds Johnson grass, bermuda grass and purple nutsedge. The spreading stems of ferns are also rhizomes. Some plants have rhizomes that grow above ground or that sit at the soil surface including some Iris species. Rhizomes may also be referred to as creeping rootstalks, or rootstocks. A stolon is similar to a rhizome, but instead of being the main stem of the plant, which is what a rhizome is, a stolon sprouts from an existing stem and has long internodes and generates new shoots at the end. A good example of a plant that grows with stolons is strawberry. Rhizomes typically have short internodes; they send out roots from the bottom of the nodes and new vertically growing shoots from the top of the nodes.

For many plants, the rhizome acts as the "seed", and is used by humans to propagate the plants, by a process known as vegetative reproduction. Examples of plants that are propagated this way include asparagus, ginger, irises, Lily of the Valley, Cannas and sympodial orchids.

A tuber is a thickened part of a stolon or root that has been enlarged for use as a storage organ. ^[1] They are typically high in starch. An example of a tuber is the common potato, a modified stolon. The term tuber is often used imprecisely and is sometimes applied to plants with rhizomes.

See also

• Underground stem

References

1. ^ Kingsley R. Stern Introductory Plant Biology, 10th ed.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - [bot.] jordstængel, rhizom, rodstok

Nederlands (Dutch)
wortelstok

Français (French)
n. - rhizome

Deutsch (German)
n. - Wurzelstock

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (φυτολ.) ρίζωμα

Italiano (Italian)
rizoma

Português (Portuguese)
n. - rizoma (m) (Bot.)

Русский (Russian)
ризома

Español (Spanish)
n. - rizoma

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - rotstock

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
根茎, 地下茎

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 根莖, 地下莖

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 뿌리줄기, 지하경

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 地下茎, 根茎

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الجذمور وهي ساق أرضيه أشبه بالجذر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮גבעול תת-קרקעי, קנה-שורש‬

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