Fig. 1

Schematic representation of daughter bulb development in tulip. (A) Cross section of a mother bulb at the moment of planting in the field just before winter (left). The yellow structure in the centre is the flower. On the right a schematic representation is depicted showing the daughter bud positions with alphabetic letters and the basal plate with central flower bud in purple. (B) Top view of a daughter bulb cluster at the end of the growth season, in summer (left) and its schematic depiction (right). Daughter bulb D is small and not visible in the picture. Each daughter bud develops into a daughter bulb. The bigger bulbs, in light blue, contain a flower bud (purple) that will bloom in the next growing season, in spring. In this study, they are referred to as ‘flowering’ daughter bulbs (F). The smaller bulbs, in green, remain vegetative and produce one flat leaf. Here, they are referred to as ‘non-flowering’ daughter bulbs (NF). Both F and NF bulbs can produce a new generation of daughter bulbs following the same principle