Plants Also Reproduce AsexuallyMr. Chapman

Biology 20

Asexual Reproduction in Plants

• A combination of sexual and asexual reproduction allows plants to adapt effectively to various conditions.

• Can you remember how sexual and asexual reproduction are an advantage? It depends on the conditions facing the plant.

Asexual Reproduction in Plants

• Many plants reproduce asexually so that a well-adapted plant can make copies of itself. Most plants actually have a way of cloning themselves.

• Many plants can grow into new plants from just a fragment of a stem, leaf, or root. When plants reproduce this way, they are said to be reproducing by regeneration.

Grass often grows in clumps, due to asexual reproduction. If you grab a clump of grass, odds are that all the blades close to each other are clones of each other.

Vegetative Reproduction

• Vegetative reproduction is a type of asexual reproduction in which stems, leaves, or roots attached to the parent plant produce new individuals.

• One of the most stunning examples of this is an aspen tree forest in Utah. The forest is actually 47000 tree trunks growing from the roots of 1 parent plant.

The Aspen Forest

• Well, I am pretty sure that this video is designed to make you want to go to Utah:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Buq8_ikpeE

• Most of the trees that you see in this video are actually genetically identical.

Structures for Asexual Reproduction

• Many structures are actually designed for asexual reproduction to take place. They include the following:

• Stolons - stolons are horizontal stems that grow along the ground. New plants can sprout from the stems. This is how strawberry plants reproduce.

Strawberries reproduce using stolons, horizontal stems that sprout new plants.

Structures for Asexual Reproduction

• Rhizomes – similar to stolons, only rhizomes grow underground.

• Tubers – potatoes are examples of tubers, which are underground stems. The “eyes” of a potato are buds that can sprout new plants.

• Bulbs – bulbs (like onions) can divide to produce new plants.

Humans Take Advantage!

Humans Capitalize on Asexual Reproduction

• Vegetative Propagation is the process of growing new plants from the fragments of another plant.

• This method allows farmers to grow things like seedless oranges. Did you ever think of how seedless oranges came to be?

• In fact, most apples that we eat come from propagated branches rather than trees.

Vegetative Propagation• Vegetative propagation can be achieved

by a few common methods.

• Some plants are reproduced using cuttings from stems or leaves. If the cutting is placed in soil or water, it will produce new roots.

• Cuttings are an easy way for horticulturists to grow new plants for sale.

Grafting

• Fruit and nut tree growers can actually graft parts of one plant to parts of another plant.

• By making an incision in a part of a tree and inserting a branch from another tree, sometimes growers can create a tree that produces the desired fruit but has other good characteristics, like disease resistance.

Videos for Vegetative Propagation

• Sugarcane Growth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPraEesXRSs

• Britannica Asexual Reproduction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfPP2CQGuC0