Asexual Reproduction of Flowering Plants

AP BiologySpring 2011

Many plants can reproduce asexually by vegetative growth including shoots and runners

In this mode of reproduction, all of the plants produced are genetically identical clones

Examples of this form of growth include quaking aspen in Colorado, which stretch across hundreds of acres, and 11,700 year old creosote bushes in the Mojave Desert

Strawberry plants send out runners Oranges come from trees that

reproduce by parthenogenesis • Parthenogenesis: development of an

embryo from an unfertilized egg

Vegetative propagation (cuttings) can result in new plants produced from leaves that form roots

Tissue culture propagation can result in whole plants produced from a group of cells

This technique is used today to produce crops that have desirable characteristics such as disease resistance, and to increase production of hybrid orchids, lilies, and other prized ornamental plants