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geophyte

American  
[jee-uh-fahyt] / ˈdʒi əˌfaɪt /

noun

Botany.

  1. a plant propagated by means of underground buds.

geophyte British  
/ ˌdʒiːəʊˈfɪtɪk, ˈdʒiːəʊˌfaɪt /

noun

  1. a perennial plant that propagates by means of buds below the soil surface

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
geophyte Scientific  
/ jē′ə-fīt′ /

  1. A perennial plant with an underground food storage organ, such as a bulb, tuber, corm, or rhizome. The parts of the plant that grow above ground die away during adverse conditions, as in winter or during the dry season, and grow again from buds that are on or within the underground portion when conditions improve. Crocuses and tulips are geophytes.

Other Word Forms

  • geophytic adjective

Etymology

Origin of geophyte

First recorded in 1895–1900; geo- + -phyte

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.