Stems - Plant Stems

Stems
Backyardnature.com

Here is a definition of a plant stem:
A stem is the part of a plant from which shoots and buds arise.

At first glance, that definition sounds a little clumsy. However, below you'll see that sometimes it's not so easy to distinguish certain kinds of stems from roots.

Stems can by tricky.
For example, several kinds of stems grow beneath the ground. Sometimes, to figure out whether a plant part is a root or a modified stem, you have to analyze it. You have to notice where the plant's shoots and buds arise. If shoots and buds arise from it, it's a stem.

At the right you see a green onion from my garden. The green shoot above it is arising from the spherical bulb, so, remembering our definition, the bulb must be a much-modified stem, right? That's the case, even though the bulb grew below the soil's surface. The white, hairlike things arising from the bulb's bottom are roots.

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