What about the modified leaves - "annular rings" on a corm? I understand a corm to be a stem surrounded by rings of modified leaves, split a Crocosmia and it is very clear. The central stem (miristem?) with a top shoot, possible side shoots (both root and stem) and roots at the bottom of the stem. a new corm is normally formed on top of the old corm, (which may wither OR NOT), each growing cycle. A bulb has a basal plate on which the modified leaves sit (scales), (tulips often have only one I think), onions or daffodils are better examples. I was taught that a tuber is a swollen root and that a rhizome is a swollen stem. There are also such structures as "tuberous roots" though I am not sure if this is a technical term. Neither roots nor tubers are surrounded by leaves but a rhizome is a swollen stem with an extending shoot at the tip which grows leaves and produces roots as it extends. I believe there are rather more types of tuber but I understand that they too do not have their bulk consisting of some type of leaf tissue. Both tubers and stems have internal structure made up of cell tissue apropriately arranged. I understand a stool to be a stump from which shoots may appear, sometimes used for propagating, or else to coppice larger plants, I was not aware that a stool was an anatomical structure. Peter (UK) On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 1:59 AM, Hannon <othonna@gmail.com> wrote: > Peter, > > The term "corm" is inconsistently defined by various sources, including a > number of botanical dictionaries. The better definition, in my view, is one > that can be usefully confined to bulb-like stems comprised of several nodes > and internodes that are *completely exhausted and renewed each season*. > Examples include Crocus, Gladiolus, Amorphophallus (not quite all), and > many South African irids. "Bulb" can also be closely defined, which usually > leaves "tuber" as the catch-all category for other geophytes. > > Calling a banana rhizome a "corm" is like calling a palm trunk a "caudex", > which is an older use of a word now applied to very different structures. > > On 3 June 2012 16:00, Steven <hartsentwine.australia@gmail.com> wrote: > > I have been told by commercial banana growers that bananas are a corm & > > the plant is actually a stool... > > > > On 04/06/2012, at 1:38 AM, Peter Taggart <petersirises@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > I read on wikipedia that Musa havecorms, -stated with confidence. > Perhaps > > it is true? >