storage_organ

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• Label: Storage organ
• Entity URI: https://w3id.org/APD/traits/trait_0030512
• Type: categorical
• Definition: A plant structure morphology trait [TO:0000839] which is the type [NCIT:C25284] of storage organ [EFO:0000997] a plant has, where a storage organ is a plant part (organ [PO:0009008], tissue [PO:0009007], or other plant structure [PO:0009011]) whose function [NCIT:C25518] is carbohydrate [CHEBI:16646] (energy [PATO:0001021]) storage.;Plant structures (tissues, organs, or other structures) where a plant stores excess carbohydrates (energy). The stored energy may be used for future growth, including clonal spread and regrowth following an annual unfavourable season, or for regrowth following a disturbance event (including post-fire regeneration or another disturbance event that causes leaf loss). Trait values include both generic terms and quite specific ones to accommodate the variation in detail provided across datasets.
• Additional comments: There are two other traits with overlapping trait values, but that are distinct trait concepts: `clonal_spread_mechanism` indicates mechanisms and structures a plant actually uses for vegetative spread; not all energy storage organs also allow vegetative spread; `bud_bank_location` indicates the location of meristematic tissue (buds) that allow regeneration following a disturbance or after an annual unfavourable season. See Pausus, Lamont et al. 2018 (doi.org/10.1111/nph.14982) for detailed descriptions of recolonization ability and level of fire protection provided by each regeneration strategy.
• Allowed values:

  value	description
  bulb	Below ground storage organ derived from stem and usually leaf tissue.
  caudex	Swollen stem that usually functions in water storage, although the term can also apply to below ground structures or to swollen roots.
  corm	Below ground storage organ that is a short, rounded, vertical, fleshy, underground stem.
  fleshy_underground_organ	Plants that use fleshy, generally underground organs (swellings) to regenerate, but the type of organ is not specified; examples include corms, tubers, bulbs, and caudex.
  lignotuber	Swollen woody structures are located at the transition between the stem base and root crown of woody shrubs, mallees and small trees, and are formed from stem tissues. Buds are located over the entire structure. No colonisation ability.
  no_storage_organ	No storage organ present
  pseudobulb	An above ground storage organ present in many terrestrial and epiphytic orchids created throough the thickening of the stem between leaf nodes.
  rhizome	A type of continually growing or creeping underground stem, but it is not specified if the rhizome is woody or non-woody.
  rhizome_fibrous	A type of continually growing or creeping fibrous, non-woody underground stem.
  rhizome_fleshy	A type of continually growing or creeping fleshy, non-woody underground stem.
  rhizome_woody	A type of continually growing or creeping woody underground stem.
  root_tuber	A swollen root the stores nutrients, carbohydrates and water. (Synonyms, taproot tuber)
  stem_tuber	A swollen underground stem that stores nutrients, carbohydrates and water.
  storage_organ	Plant has a storage organ, but the type is unknown.
  tuber	A swollen underground organ that stores nutrients, carbohydrates and water, where it is not specified if the tuber develops from root or stem tissue.

See the AusTraits Plant Dictionary (https://w3id.org/APD/traits/trait_0030512) for additional information about this trait.

Coverage

For this trait, AusTraits includes a total of 10,183 records. This includes:

• data for 6,057 species.
• data for 172 families.
• data from 18 datasets (see the portal Citations tab for a list of sources)