All About Bulbs A bulb is a promise. These "packaged plants" each have a complete miniature plant inside along with its food. The word bulb describes plants that grow from an underground mass of food storage tissue. True bulbs like tulips and daffodils contain a complete miniature plant surrounded by fleshy scales, mostly carbohydrates to nourish the plant, attached to a basal plate from which roots grow. True bulbs can be either tunicate, with a papery covering such as onion or tulip, or scaly, with no paper covering such as lily. If a bulb is sliced in half horizontally, you will see rings formed by the scale leaves. These scale leaves store food for use by the bulb as it grows. An onion is a good example. If you slice a bulb vertically, you should be able to find leaves, stems, and even flower buds. You can use an onion here also or use some of the paperwhite narcissus bulbs that will be used in the planting activity.