Tuber is ... Underground modified plant organ

Tuber is a part of the plant, which is its modified organ. It is necessary for the body to perform additional functions. Features of its structure and a variety of tubers of different origin will be discussed in detail in this article.

The purpose of the modifications

Underground and aboveground organs of plants are, respectively, root and shoot. These vegetative parts serve for air and soil nutrition, as well as for asexual reproduction. But under certain conditions additional functions are needed for the process of adaptation and enhancement of vitality. For these purposes, modifications are needed. Tuber is a vivid example of one of them.

Root crops are a good example of the modification of an underground organ of plants. They are formed in carrots, beets, radishes, radishes. This is the thickening of the main root, in which water and nutrients are stored. Man uses them for food and as forage crops.

Modifications of escape

Tuber and rhizome are modifications of the aerial organs. There is nothing surprising in this. Despite the location under the ground, in their structure they have all parts of the escape. Their examples are tubers, bulbs, rhizomes, mustaches and mustaches. Each of them has its own structural features, which determine their functions. For example, a strawberry mustache is necessary for vegetative propagation of this plant. Despite the fact that it forms flowers and seeds, this method is the most significant. But the mustache of the grapes is needed to attach his lashes to the support.

A bulb of leeks or garlic consists of a flat stem, which is called the Don. Attached roots are attached to it. They grow in a bundle. This is a typical structure for the fibrous root system. On the bottom are also the kidneys and several species of leaves. Some of them are juicy and fleshy. They store water and nutrients. Other dry and dense, serving as additional protection against mechanical damage and excessive transpiration. From the kidneys located on the bottom, young green leaves periodically grow. They are called green onions. All these features of the structure once again prove that the bulb is a modification of the escape.

Structure of the tuber

The next example of modification of the aerial organs is the tuber. It is typical for potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, kohlrabi. Tuber is the result of thickening of the interstices of the stem, which can be either under- or above-ground.

Its basis is a thickened stem, rich in starch and other substances. From the adverse environmental conditions it protects the bark. It is we who clean it when using potatoes for cooking. On the thickened stem tuber of potatoes are also kidneys. They are called eyes. With their help vegetative reproduction of this plant is carried out. In the spring, young shoots appear from the kidneys, which form a bush and new tubers.

Root tuber

Not only shoots are able to form tubers. The underground part of the plant is no exception. So, the root tuber is characteristic for dahlias, sweet potatoes and chicken. It is nothing more than a thickening of the accessory parts of the urine root system. Despite the different origin and location, such modifications perform exactly the same functions.

Functions

The main purpose of both stem and root tubers is to store water with mineral and organic nutrients dissolved in it. Everyone knows how rich in starch potatoes. It is in his tubers, in the cells of the storing main tissue, that there are plastids of leukoplasts containing carbohydrates. In this form, plants that possess these changes can easily tolerate adverse conditions, surviving them underground.

Another important function of this modification is the exercise of vegetative reproduction. To grow potatoes, it is enough to cut the tuber into several parts, each of which must have kidneys-eyes, and plant them in the ground. This plant has fruits that can form seeds. But their number is small. Since potato is of great economic importance, breeders have attempted to breed new varieties with a large number of seeds. But the vegetative method of reproduction with the help of tubers turned out to be more productive.

Since the tuber is a storehouse of nutrients, these modified elements are used for food. And Jerusalem artichoke is capable at constant use to lower a level of a glucose in a blood. Doctors recommend it to people suffering from diabetes. The use of potatoes provides the body not only with the necessary daily carbohydrate content, but also with valuable microelements, for example, phosphorus and potassium.

Thus, the tubers are a modification of the shoot or root and serve for the supply of nutrients, vegetative reproduction. They have important food and economic importance.