Talk:Tuber

Root tubers versus tuberous roots

Are these two structures analogous botanical terms? Are tuberous roots true tubers?

Root tubers and stem tubers are the same type of storage structure in function but are derived from different tissues and as such have different morphologies. Root tubers and tuberous roots are the same thing, just the way language says thing- roots that have tubers are called tuberous roots while the tubers themselves are root tubers. This article has suffered a lot over the last year and half; when it was divided into two separate articles (Root tubers & Stem tubers) and why is beyond me. It has lost a number of references two. If some one else does not come in response to your tag, I will clean it up and add in a number of references. Hardyplants (talk) 06:39, 4 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, if I had enough sources, I would've done the update myself. But botany is not a subject I am very familiar with. I'm more of a cultivator and collector of plants than a true botanist. payxystaxna (talk) 07:56, 4 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Technically the two parts are very different botanically. The main differences lie in the way the plant "reproduces" (also misleading, as tuberous growth is a cloning process, not reproduction proper). Generally speaking root tubers are simply organs meant to help over-"winter" plants during climactic/environmental extremes--the plants that grow from the buds are from the same plant stem. Stem Tubers, on the other hand, are technically new stems arising from the extension of the old plant--again, meant to assist in the over-"winter"ing of the plant. The differentiation is largely a matter of botanical placement, albeit on a quantified continuum rather than a de facto difference. That said, there is a slight difference in the way the plants perennialize--largely speaking the root tuber exhausts itself and does not create a "new" plant; where as the stem tuber creates a new plant (meaning a new stem crown and new root system). Both tubers "die off" as the plant uses up the resources for aerial growth--the difference is whether the plant is the same stem crown or a new one... —Preceding

This article is inaccurate

Unfortunately, my botany definitions aren't good enough, otherwise I could make all the corrections myself - but for starters, sweetpotatoes are not tubers - they are storage roots. Tubers are modified stems. I believe "tuberous root" is a misnomer.

See the last sentence of the lead section. In botany, it's frequently the case that terms are used differently in different sources, and there are sources that restrict "tuber" to "stem tuber". But equally there are very reliable sources that do not. Thus The Kew Plant Glossary includes both stem and root tubers under "tuber", saying "a swollen root or branch of a root ... (root-tuber)". Peter coxhead (talk) 06:02, 22 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Terminology

I note that the introduction to the article, violated NPV rules. It used the phrase "some sources" and "treat" in a way that clearly implied that roots are not "real" tubers. No matter what the case. if the definition is in dispute, then this article needs to report both definitions in a neutral way. It should not choose sides. I edited this to make it neutral. Nick Beeson (talk) 12:35, 5 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I see that another editor has undone your changes; I would have done so too. The lead summarizes the article and does so neutrally: some sources require tubers to be stem-derived; others do not. A source for each view is presented below in the article. Peter coxhead (talk) 13:07, 5 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]