A storage organ is a part of a plant specifically modified for storage of energy (generally in the form of starch) or water. Storage organs often grow underground, where they are better protected from attack. Underground storage organs are called geophytes. Divisions Green algae Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants... Starch is a complex carbohydrate which is insoluble in water. ... Water (from the Old English word wæter) is a colorless, tasteless, and odorless substance that is essential to all known forms of life and is known also as the most universal solvent. ...

Because of their high energy content, plants that produce storage organs are a major class of human food crops and are often staple foods. Major examples include the potato (a tuber), sweet potato (a tuberous root) and taro (a corm). A staple food is a basic but nutritious food that forms the basis of a traditional diet, particularly that of the poor. ... Binomial name Solanum tuberosum L. The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial plant of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, grown for its starchy tuber. ... A tuber is a part of a rhizome thickened for use as a storage organ, usually, though not always, subterranean, such as a potato. ... Binomial name Ipomoea batatas Linnaeus, This article is about the plant. ... A tuberous root is a modified lateral root, enlarged for storage. ... Binomial name Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott This article is about the plant. ... A corm is a short, vertical, swollen underground stem of a plant (usually one of the monocots) that serves as a storage organ to enable the plant to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (estivation). ...

The main classes of storage organs are:

• Bulb
• Corm
• Tuber
• Rhizome
• Tuberous root
• Storage taproot
• Storage hypocotyl
• Pseudobulb

A bulb is an underground vertical shoot that has modified leaves (or thickened leaf bases) that are used as food storage organs by a dormant plant. ... A corm is a short, vertical, swollen underground stem of a plant (usually one of the monocots) that serves as a storage organ to enable the plant to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (estivation). ... A tuber is a part of a rhizome thickened for use as a storage organ, usually, though not always, subterranean, such as a potato. ... In botany, a rhizome is a horizontal, usually underground stem of a plant that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. ... A tuberous root is a modified lateral root, enlarged for storage. ... A plants taproot is a straight tapering root that grows vertically down. ... Hypocotyl is a botanical term for a part of a germinating seedling of a seed plant. ... The pseudobulb is a storage organ derived from the part of a stem between two leaf nodes. ...

See also

• Root vegetable