The phrase "a single bulb of" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when referring to a specific quantity of a bulb, typically in the context of cooking or gardening.
Example: "For this recipe, you will need a single bulb of garlic, finely chopped."
Alternatives: "one bulb of" or "a bulb of".
In 1623 a tulip collector, Nicolaas van Wassenaar, bought a single bulb of an exquisite red-and-white striped variety for a sum that at the time would have bought eight oxen.
By about 1610 a single bulb of a new variety was acceptable as dowry for a bride, and a flourishing brewery in France was exchanged for one bulb of the variety Tulipe Brasserie.
Brought to the Netherlands from Asia in the 16th century, the flower sparked an acquisitive fever that culminated, in 1637, with a single bulb of one variety selling for what was then an unheard-of 5,200 guilders -- the price of a house.
This encouraged trading in tulips by all members of society; Mackay recounted people selling or trading their other possessions in order to speculate in the tulip market, such as an offer of 12 acre of land for one of two existing Semper Augustus bulbs, or a single bulb of the Viceroy that was purchased for a basket of goods (shown at right) worth 2,500 florins.
Even Runyon has about as much to do with the history of Times Square as P. G. Wodehouse does with the history of Mayfair: his subject is language, not place, and in all of Runyon's stories it would be hard to find a single set-piece description of Times Square, a single bulb on a single sign.
Lately, markets have tended to offer larger and fresher ones, with a single bulb instead of a cluster, making them much easier to peel.
(G.P.S. experts often compare processing the signal to trying to read by the light of a single bulb in a city thousands of miles away).
(G.P.S. experts often compare processing the signal to trying to read by the light of a single bulb in a city thousands of miles away). The signal tells the receiver the precise moment at which it left the satellite.
At one point, a single bulb could fetch hundreds of guilders or be worth twelve acres of land.
Sign up for the best of VICE, delivered to your inbox dAily.
The final design, a single bulb about the size of an Oriental lily, "floats on a thin wire, and moves in a breeze like a flower in your garden," he said.
