Offset (botany)

In botany and horticulture, an offset (also called a pup, mainly in the US,[1]) is a small, virtually complete daughter plant that has been naturally and asexually produced on the mother plant.

This is a cheap and simple process for those plants that readily produce offsets as it does not usually require specialist materials and equipment.

This is particularly common in species that develop underground storage organs, such as bulbs, corms and tubers.

Tulips and lilies are examples of plants that display offset characteristics by forming cormlets around the original mother corm.

It can take up to 3 years for the bulbil to store enough energy to produce a flower stem.