Plant propagation

Plant propagation is the production of new plants from seeds, spores, or vegetative parts through sexual or asexual reproduction.

Seed: A plant embryo with stored nutrients enclosed by a protective coat. Seeds develop after fertilization and begin new plants when conditions permit.
Seed propagation: The cultivation of plants by sowing seeds. It is a common route for growing crops and producing genetically varied plants.
Sexual reproduction: Reproduction involving the fusion of gametes to produce offspring with new genetic combinations. Seed-based propagation usually introduces more genetic variation than cloning methods.
Genetic diversity: The variation in genetic traits among individuals within a population or species. Seed propagation can increase variation, while repeated cloning narrows it.
Spore: A reproductive cell capable of developing into a new organism without fusing with another cell. Ferns, mosses, and other plants use spores rather than seeds to reproduce.
Cutting (plant): A detached piece of a plant grown to form roots and develop into a new plant. Stem, leaf, and root cuttings are practical methods of cloning many plants.
Asexual reproduction: Reproduction that produces offspring without the fusion of gametes. Vegetative propagation is asexual and can preserve a plant’s genotype.
Plant cultivar: A cultivated plant variety selected for particular traits and maintained through cultivation. Many cultivars depend on vegetative propagation to preserve their defining traits.
Vegetative reproduction: Asexual reproduction in which new plants develop from roots, stems, leaves, or other nonreproductive structures. It produces new plants without fertilization, often from a parent plant’s tissues.
Grafting: A method of joining plant parts so they grow together as one plant. It combines a chosen shoot or bud with a root system suited to propagation or cultivation.

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