{"id":24,"date":"2025-09-11T13:58:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/biology\/bulbous-lab\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2026-08-01T16:04:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T20:04:01","slug":"belowgroundbuds","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/biology\/bulbous-lab\/belowgroundbuds\/","title":{"rendered":"Belowground Buds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Belowground bud placement has evolved across the plant tree of life. Figure from Tribble, et al. 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Across the plant tree of life, many lineages have evolved to have their buds placed below the soil’s surface. Some examples of Florida plants with belowground buds include the rain lilies (Zephyranthes<\/em> spp.), runner oak (Quercus pumila<\/em>), and green briar (Smilax<\/em> spp.). Plants with belowground buds place their buds below the soil surface through a number of fascinating morphologies, such as rhizomes, bulbs and xylopodia, and some species can even resprout from their roots! The complex evolution and ecological importance of belowground plant structures and plant buds remain less well studied compared to aboveground plant parts (flowers, leaves, etc.). This is largely due to the hidden placement below the soil\u2019s surface (out of sight, out of mind) but has also been hindered due to ambiguous or incorrect classification of many of the belowground structures. A major research avenue within the Bulbous Lab is to continually refine our understanding of the evolution and ecology of belowground bud placement using museum and field specimens, experimental manipulations and phylogenetics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Across the plant tree of life, many lineages have evolved to have their buds placed below the soil’s surface. Some examples of Florida plants with belowground buds include the rain lilies (Zephyranthes spp.), runner oak (Quercus pumila), and green briar (Smilax spp.). Plants with belowground buds place their buds below the soil surface through a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"class_list":["post-24","page","type-page","status-publish"],"yoast_head":"\nBelowground Buds - Bulbous Lab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why did plants evolve to put their buds below the soil surface?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/biology\/bulbous-lab\/belowgroundbuds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belowground Buds - Bulbous Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why did plants evolve to put their buds below the soil surface?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/biology\/bulbous-lab\/belowgroundbuds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bulbous Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T20:04:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/biology\/bulbous-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2025\/09\/geophyte_phylogeny_BW-scaled.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/biology\\\/bulbous-lab\\\/belowgroundbuds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/biology\\\/bulbous-lab\\\/belowgroundbuds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Belowground Buds - 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