dividing tuberose (Polianthes)

Several years ago I planted a cheap Costco bag of modest-sized tuberose pips
(each ca 1.5 cm diam., 3 cm tall) in a large plastic pot on my deck and have
left them alone since then.  At the end of last summer I noticed they had
broken the pot from growth.  Today I tipped out the contents and had a go at
dividing them, and was astonished to find that each original pip (Sunset
calls them rhizomes, but they don't look much like rhizomes to me) has
produced literally hundreds of offsets to form a grapefruit-sized mass.
Pulling them apart, they proved to be brittle and many broke off without any
rootlets attached.  My question is: will those that come off with no obvious
rootlets regenerate roots, or are they goners?  Do they have a base plate
like narcissi?  I carefully teased apart the first few hundred and then gave
up and replanted hunks of attached pips.  Thanks for any advice you can
give.
**************************
Julie Kierstead Nelson
Redding, far northern inland California, USA
USDA zone 9, Sunset zones 7/9 margin
****HOT summers****
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