Geophyte - an uncomfortable definition ?

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net
Sun, 25 Jan 2004 09:58:06 PST
Diane, your trip through the vegetable aisle brought you close to what I
had in mind when I started this iteration of this thread on the definition
of geophyte. 

The assertion I posed was "not all bulbs are geophytes". The bulb I had in
mind was Florence fennel, Foeniculum vulgare v. azoricum. I say it's not a
geophyte because the bulb is above ground (or mostly so). 

Are bulbous epiphytes geophytes? Maybe we should call them "dendrogeophytes".

This is a hoot!

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starpower.net
Montgomery County, Maryland, zone 7, where any bulb not tucked down into
the ground will be a goner in this weather.





At 08:46 AM 1/25/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>Angelo's letter was thought-provoking.  My thoughts now dwell on some 
>much commoner plants than he mentioned.  Scarlet runner beans produce 
>a big underground tuber. A little tour through the vegetable market 
>reveals lots of tubers: potatoes, sweet potatoes, jicama, various 
>Chinese roots - one is a Stachys I think.
>
>		Diane Whitehead
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