CORMS

Corms are solid. They are the part of a plant’s stem that grows underground.  Corms are mainly made of starch and serve as a storage unit to help plants survive during dormancy, heat, and drought.  Skins, which are actually dried leaves from the previous year, grow around the corms to help protect them against insects and water loss.  On the bottom side of corms, or basil area, is a node that the roots grow from.  On the topside of the corms, the shoots of leaves and flowers sprout.

Corms reproduce by forming cormlets, called cormels.  They do this by growing stems, called stolons, above the node that grows roots.  At the ends of the stolons are the new corms, which will grow in size after the plant flowers.  Some plants grow new corms yearly replacing the old.  The young cormels will generally take a couple of years to produce flowers.  Corms can also be cut into sections and replanted.  Each section that has cormlets will produce new corms.

Corms also have a secondary root system.  These roots grow when the corm is not at the proper depth in the ground.  They will pull the corms to its desired depth, to where the light and soil temperature are more constant.  These contractial roots are thicker and layered. They grow from the same area that the cormlets grow from.  

Some of the plants that grow from corms include crocus, cyclamen, freesia, gladiolus, liatris, banana, saffron and some irises.