Vegetative reproduction facts for kids
Vegetative reproduction is a kind of asexual reproduction. It can be found in plants, and lower organisms, for example unicellular organisms. It occurs naturally, and can also be caused on purpose by horticulturists. Vegetative reproduction uses Mitosis. This means that the newly created cell is a clone, and identical to the parent cell.
By this process, new plants can be grown naturally without any seeds or spores. Therefore, it is widely used especially in agriculture to spread the trees that are of great value to the economy.
When it occurs naturally, it can be in different ways. Some plants put out new roots underground, have bulbs, or grow new vines and shoots above ground.
In gardening and farming, vegetative reproduction means cutting a tree branch below its center joint, planting it in some other earth, and letting it form new roots. In this way, many kinds of useful plants can be easily reproduced without any seeds, for example: apple, avocado, banana, cacao, hemp, orange/lemon, date, fig, grape, almond, pineapple, potato, strawberry, sugar cane and tea.
Images for kids
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Production of new individuals along a leaf margin of the air plant, Kalanchoe pinnata. The small plant in front is about 1 cm tall. The concept of "individual" is obviously stretched by this process.
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Bryophyllum daigremontianum produces plantlets along the margins of its leaves. When they are mature enough, they drop off and root in any suitable soil beneath.
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Vegetative reproduction from a stem cutting less than a week old. Some species are more conducive to this means of propagation than others.
