Rhizome vs. Tuber — What's the Difference?

In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (, from Ancient Greek: rhízōma (ῥίζωμα) – "mass of roots", from rhizóō (ῥιζόω) "cause to strike root") is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks.

Tubers are enlarged structures used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season, and as a means of asexual reproduction.

A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Also called rootstock.

A swollen, fleshy, usually underground outgrowth of the stem or rhizome of a plant, such as the potato, bearing buds from which new plant shoots arise.

(botany) A horizontal, underground stem of some plants that sends out roots and shoots (scions) from its nodes.

A similar outgrowth of a plant root.

A so-called “image of thought” that apprehends multiplicities.

A rounded projection or swelling; a tubercle.

A rootstock. See Rootstock.

A fleshy, thickened underground stem of a plant, usually containing stored starch, for example a potato or arrowroot.

A horizontal plant stem with shoots above and roots below serving as a reproductive structure

(horticulture) A thickened rootstock.

(anatomy) A rounded, protuberant structure in a human or animal body.

A fleshy, rounded stem or root, usually containing starchy matter, as the potato or arrowroot; a thickened root-stock. See Illust. of Tuberous.

A tuberosity; a tubercle.

A fleshy underground stem or root serving for reproductive and food storage

Type genus of the Tuberaceae: fungi whose fruiting bodies are typically truffles