geophyten.

1896 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 324 Prof. F. W. C. Areschoug applies the term geophilous plants, or geophytes, to those species which produce subterranean buds.

1913 Jrnl. Ecol. 1 17 Cryptophytes include plants with their dormant parts subterranean in the case of geophytes with bulbs, rhizomes, tubers on stem and root, and root-buds.

1952 P. W. Richards Trop. Rain Forest i. 10 While in temperate forests the herbaceous ground flora includes a large proportion of..geophytes, in the rain forest..geophytes are only rarely present.

1985 Cambr. Encycl. Life Sci. viii. 218/2 There are many geophytes (plants with the perennial organs or buds buried in the soil), which tend to flower when the shrubby vegetation has been removed by fires.

2007 E. Zachos Down & Dirty 224 Different tender geophytes grow best at different temperatures, so check the recommendations for whatever you're planting.

1903 New Internat. Encycl. VIII. 248/1 The geophytic habit is also shown, though to a less extreme degree, by ordinary lawn grasses.

1913 Jrnl. Ecol. 1 24 The Anemone nemorosa facies of the beech-wood is geophytic.

2004 J. Manning Southern Afr. Wild Flowers 38/3 Bulbous or cormous plants are similarly successful and the eastern escarpment is a centre of diversity for several geophytic families.