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corm

A short swollen underground stem that serves as an organ of perennation and of vegetative propagation in such genera as Crocus and Gladiolus. The foliage leaves and flowers form from one or more axillary buds and grow at the expense of the food reserves in the corm. At the end of the season the corm is reduced to a withered mass and one or more new corms form above it at the base of each flowering stem. The protective brown scales surrounding the corm are the remains of the previous season's leaf bases. Compare bulb , rhizome.

 
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