tuberous plant

6.1

A plant that grows from a thick part under the ground, like a potato or dahlia

noun
/ˈtjuːbərəs plænt/

: planta tuberosa

In the spring, I planted several tuberous plants in my garden, hoping to enjoy their colorful flowers.

Examples

Dahlias are popular tuberous plants known for their beautiful blooms and ability to thrive in various climates.
Ant plants are diverse; they include pudgy, tuberous plants that cling to the branches of forest trees in Borneo and fast-growing umbrellas.

Academic text (1993)
The gardener dug up a tuberous plant, revealing the large potato hidden beneath the soil.

Surface Forms

tuberous plant singular

tuberous plants plural

Morphology

tuberous + plant

The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'tuberous' means having tubers and 'plant' is the entity, so together they denote a plant that has tubers (e.g., potato, dahlia). This is a directly compositional, cross-linguistically common structure, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

The noun tuberous plant names a plant that grows from a tuber, a thick underground part that stores food like a potato. Because the plant sprouts and gets energy from that buried tuber, the phrase means 'a plant that grows from a tuber'.