Are rhizomes and suckers the same?

Answer 1

Yes they are. However there are slight differences in their definitions.

A basal shoot, root sprout, adventitious shoot, water sprout or sucker is a shoot or cane which grows from a bud at the base of a tree or shrub or from its roots. This shoot then becomes, or takes the form of a singular plant. A plant that produces suckers is referred to as surculose. Root suckers may emerge some distance from the originating plant such as in Rhus spp, some Prunus species and Embothrium species, or relatively close to an existing stem. Suckers also may arise from the stumps of trees that have been cut down (e.g. Eucalyptus spp., and Camphora spp.). A root sucker can be defined as an adventitious or secondary shoot which develops from the base or roots of a woody plant, and which may then emerge above ground to become a new plant. Another way to say it is that a sucker is any strong shoot that arises in a mature plant from a root, rhizome, or the base of the main stem. A sucker is a clone of the plant from which it comes. The growth of suckers is a form of asexual reproduction.

Any sub-surface or root shoot that propagates itself vegetatively is an example of suckering. Whether it suckers a lot or a little is really beside the point, because what may sucker profusely under one set of circumstances (soil, climate etc.) may not sucker very much or at all under another set of circumstances.

There are two types of vegetative reproduction in nature involving the roots or basal shoots. One is rhizomatous, the other stoloniferous. Generally rhizomes are defined as a root-like, underground stem. Rhizomes lie prostrate on or under the ground before emerging to form new plants. These stems are capable of forming new plants. Stolons on the other hand are slender stems that grow above ground and run along the surface of the ground, rooting at the nodes at intervals. These nodes can form new plants. Think of strawberry runners! Stolons are technically not suckers.

A rhizome can be defined as a horizontal underground plant stem capable of producing the upward shoot and downward root systems of a new plant. This capability allows vegetative (asexual) propagation. It is a

fleshy, sometimes creeping underground stem or "rootstock" by means of which certain plants propagate themselves. Buds that form at the joints produce new vegetative shoots that emerge to form new plants.

Adventitious buds may sometimes form on roots near the ground surface, on damaged stems (as on the stumps of cut trees), or on old roots. These develop into above-ground stems and leaves. This form of budding called suckering is the reproduction or regeneration of a plant by shoots that arise from an existing root system. Species that characteristically produce suckers include Elm (Ulmus), Dandelion (Taraxacum), and members of the Rose Family (Rosa).

So a large bush of a Multiflora rose for example, with many canes arising from the ground, is actually not one plant, but is an inter-connected family of many individual clones that arose from the original rootstock or seedling. Each clone is also capable of further vegetative reproduction. This reproduction may be terminal (from the end of an existing rhizome) or lateral (from buds that form at nodes along an existing rhizome). In the case of the latter, these buds may shoot and give rise to new rhizomes, which in turn may form new above ground stems and leaves.