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corm (KORM) - n., a short, swollen underground stem of a plant used as a storage organ for winter or times of drought.
Cultivated plants with corms include crocus, gladiolus, some irises, taro, and arrowhead. Different from a tuber, which is a swollen root or rhizome and can be used for propagation, and a bulb, which has layers (see: onion). Adopted in the 1820s from French corme, from Latin cormus, from Ancient Greek kormós, trunk stripped of its boughs, from keírein to cut off/hew.
---L.
Cultivated plants with corms include crocus, gladiolus, some irises, taro, and arrowhead. Different from a tuber, which is a swollen root or rhizome and can be used for propagation, and a bulb, which has layers (see: onion). Adopted in the 1820s from French corme, from Latin cormus, from Ancient Greek kormós, trunk stripped of its boughs, from keírein to cut off/hew.
---L.
