I am not sure if I understand the question. Bulb plants are often propagated by offshoots, vegetative clones that form as bulblets from the mother bulb. If you mean, "Can they be grown from root (or other cuttings)?" Then, sometimes yes, but it depends on the plant. Many bulb producing plants form lots of new bulbs each year and can simply be divided every few years. This is necessary to prevent overcrowding and maintain the health of the bed. What type of bulb plant do you want to reproduce?
Cyclamen is usually propagated by seed. It does not form a bulb, but rather forms tubers. It does spread this way and can be divided when/if that happens, but this is not the most reliable way to spread the plant. Here is a link to the Cyclamen Society's propagation page: http://www.cyclamen.org/propag_set.html
Really? It looked like a bulb when I uprooted it. It was one big bulb. How do you take apart that? Is that what you mean by a tuber?
A tuber is an underground storage organ, a similarity it shares with a bulb. A bulb however is a layered affair (think onion) with each layer being a modified leaf originating from a basal plate & acting as a storage organ. Bulbs will generate offsets from the basal plate naturally that can be separated later. A tuber is an underground stem that thickens to act as a storage organ (think potato). It has buds on it's surface that can grow either roots or stems (& leaves). An old cyclamen tuber may have several buds where leaves originate. Some tuberous plants spread quickly and form other tubers easily (again, the potato). Cyclamen does not however, do this often or easily, so most growers start them from seed. When a cyclamen gets older, some tubers have been known to reach dinner plate size as a single plant (no dividing possible). Simon
