I once received an entire order of totally naked Iris rhizomes -- no leaves, no roots. I ordered them off Ebay -- and as it happens, from a scammer and they ended up being ditch Iris instead of the registered Irises I ordered. BUT -- the important thing here is that I planted them -- and they settled in well, developed roots and leaves -- and ultimately bloomed (which is how I found out they were NOT what they were supposed to be). It did take two years for the blooms to show.