What botanical structure is each clove of the garlic bulb?

Answer 1

Each clove of garlic is actually a complete bulb. At the base of the clove is denser tissue that is sometimes a bit woody; this is actually the highly compressed stem of the plant. Under a microscope, one can see the garlic leaves fully formed but not yet elongated, and this is all surrounded by a fleshy storage leaf, which contains starch to feed the roots which develop over the winter underground (and it's also the bulk of what you eat). Adventitious roots can also be seen at the base of the stem; these are very often seen on garlic that has been in storage for some time. The leaves are arranged around the compressed stem. In between the first 2 or 3 leaves (inside the clove), at the base of where each leaf is attached to the stem, are a number of axillary buds. These are much like buds that form new branches of a basil plant at the base of each basil leaf. When you pinch the apical meristem, or top, of the basil plant, the axillary buds begin to elongate and develop. The axillary buds at the base of the first few leaves of the garlic clove are what grow out and develop into the new cloves. Ophioscodoron garlics (hard neck) have relatively few of these axillary buds (6 to 10) while Sativum garlics (soft neck) can have up to 20 or more).