Propagation
Plant propagation is the process of artificially or naturally propagating (distributing or spreading) plants.
Sexual propagation (seed)
Seeds and spores can be used for reproduction. Seeds are typically produced from sexual reproduction within a species, since genetic recombination has occurred plants grown from seed may have different characteristics to its parents. Some species produce seed that requires special conditions to germinate like cold treatment. The seed of many Australian plants and plants from southern Africa and the American west require smoke or fire to germinate. Some plant species, including many trees do not produce seed until they reach maturity, which may take many years. Seed can be difficult to acquire and some plants do not produce seed at all.
See germination for fuller discussion.
Asexual propagation
Plants have a number of mechanisms for asexual or vegetative reproduction. Some of these have been taken advantage of by horticulturists and gardeners to multiply or clone plants rapidly. People also use methods that plants do not use, such as tissue culture and grafting. Plants are produced using material from a single parent and as such there is no exchange of genetic material, therefore vegetative propagation methods almost always produces plants that are identical to the parent. Vegetative reproduction uses vegetative plants parts or roots, stems and leaves. Therefore, propagation via asexual seeds or apomixis is asexual reproduction but not vegetative propagation.
Techniques for vegetative propagation include:
- Air or ground layering
- Division
- Grafting and bud grafting, widely used in fruit tree propagation
- Micropropagation
- Stolons or runners
- Storage organs such as bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes
- Striking or cuttings
- Twin-scaling
