Tuber vegetables

Tuber vegetables is a collective term for vegetables in which the primary shoot thickens into a tuber-shaped storage organ. This edible storage organ is not a root, although it grows in the ground, but a rhizome . This distinction is made because the tissue from which the storage organ arises has its origin in the actually above-ground shoot and not in the root .

Depending on the origin of the tissue, a distinction can be made between

• Orthotropic sprout tubers that only include the lowest axis piece (hypocotyl tubers)

  Examples: turnip , beetroot , radish , chervil

• Orthotropic sprout tubers that include several internodes

  Examples: celeriac , kohlrabi

• Plagiotropic runners

  Example: Knollenziest

See also: useful plant , plant tuber