A plant’s Storage Organ Crossword

A plant’s storage organ crossword clue. A Daily Mail crossword puzzle question on Friday, 21 July 2017. 4 letters.

Answer: BULB

In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases that function as food storage organs during dormancy. (In gardening, plants with other kinds of storage organ are also called “ornamental bulbous plants” or just “bulbs”.)

A bulb’s leaf bases, also known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse weather conditions. At the center of the bulb is a vegetative growing point or an unexpanded flowering shoot. The base is formed by a reduced stem, and plant growth occurs from this basal plate. Roots emerge from the underside of the base, and new stems and leaves from the upper side.