propagation of plants
propagation of plants
is effected in nature chiefly sexually by the seedseed,fertilized and ripened ovule, consisting of the plant embryo, varying amounts of stored food material, and a protective outer seed coat. Seeds are frequently confused with the fruit enclosing them in flowering plants, especially in grains and nuts.
..... Click the link for more information. and the sporespore,
term applied both to a resistant or resting stage occurring among various unicellular organisms (especially bacteria) and to an asexual reproductive cell produced by many unicellular plants and animals and by all plants that undergo an alternation of generations.
..... Click the link for more information. , less often by rhizomes and other methods (see reproductionreproduction,
capacity of all living systems to give rise to new systems similar to themselves. The term reproduction may refer to this power of self-duplication of a single cell or a multicellular animal or plant organism.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Vegetative means include cuttingcutting,
in horticulture, part of a plant stem, leaf, or root cut off and used for producing a new plant. It is a convenient and inexpensive method of propagation, not possible for all plants but used generally for grapes; chrysanthemums; verbenas (stem cuttings); blackberries
..... Click the link for more information. , layeringlayering,
horticultural practice of propagating a plant by rooting a branch before severing it from the mother plant. Typically the branch is bent and a section that has been slit or broken on the underside is covered with soil and held in place by means of stakes or pins.
..... Click the link for more information. , graftinggrafting,
horticultural practice of uniting parts of two plants so that they grow as one. The scion, or cion, the part grafted onto the stock or rooted part, may be a single bud, as in budding, or a cutting that has several buds.
..... Click the link for more information. , tissue culture, and division of the roots (see perennialperennial,
any plant that under natural conditions lives for several to many growing seasons, as contrasted to an annual or a biennial. Botanically, the term perennial applies to both woody and herbaceous plants (see stem) and thus includes numerous members of the kingdom.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and of the tubers (see potatopotato
or white potato,
common name for a perennial plant (Solanum tuberosum) of the family Solanaceae (nightshade family) and for its swollen underground stem, a tuber, which is one of the most widely used vegetables in Western temperate climates.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Most farm and garden crops are propagated by seed, but some plants will not breed true from seed and must be propagated by various vegetative methods, depending on the type of plant.
Bibliography
See M. A. Dirr and C. W. Heuser, The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation (1987); S. Bittman, Seeds (1989); H. T. Hartmann and D. E. Kester, Plant Propagation (5th ed. 1990).