Apomixis facts for kids

Vegetative apomixis in the grass Poa bulbosa; bulbils form instead of flowers

Apomixis is reproduction where only one parent passes genes to the offspring. Apomictically produced offspring are genetically identical to the parent (clones).

The method is most seen in plants, especially flowering plants. Brambles (blackberry) are apomictic. Some authorities give "reproduction by special tissues without fertilisation", or "asexual formation of a seed from the maternal tissues of the ovule, avoiding meiosis and fertilization, leading to embryo development".

Apomixis includes some methods which are more common in animals, such as parthenogenesis.

In botany, apomixis was defined by Hans Winkler as the replacement of the normal sexual reproduction by asexual reproduction, without fertilization.

Horticulture methods, such as propagation from cuttings or leaves, is not apomixis. Natural replacement of the seed by an asexual method is apomixis.

Images for kids

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  Caribbean agave producing plantlets on the old flower stem.

See also

In Spanish: Apomixis para niños