Bulb Garden

Overview: This ecological garden includes plants that possess storage organs called bulbs.

A closer look: The Bulb Garden (formally known as the Crinum Garden) was expanded to include a diverse group of species that grow from bulbs.  The term “bulb” is being used loosely here to include plants that have corms, rhizomes, tubers, and true bulbs, but the proper term for plants that possess these parts are geophytes---plants that have an underground organ for storage of carbohydrates, nutrients, and water.  Therefore, a bulb plant is a geophyte, but not all geophytes produce bulbs.  These storage organs allow plants to better survive through adverse environmental conditions by allowing plants to survive when stressful climatic conditions cause the above ground portion to die back, leaving the subterranean storage organ with the energy reserve needed to re-sprout when conditions become more hospitable. 

The storage organ is located underground to prevent herbivores from stealing its precious energy reserve.  These storage structures are an essential component of a very successful evolutionary strategy, as evidenced by the many unrelated plant groups having geophytes that have evolved independently.