what is a tuber

A tuber is an enlarged structure used as a storage organ for nutrients in some plants. It is a type of stem or root modification that is used for the plants perennation, to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season, and as a means of asexual reproduction. Tubers are usually short and thickened and typically grow below the soil. They are composed of starch-storing parenchyma tissue and bear minute scale leaves, each with a bud that has the potential for developing into a new plant. Unlike corms or bulbs, tubers do not have a basal plant from which new shoots or roots grow. Instead, tubers produce nodes, buds, or “eyes” all over their surface, which grow up through the soil surface as shoots and stems, or down into the soil as roots. Some examples of tubers include potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, and taro.