Asexual Reproduction of Flowering Plants AP Biology Spring 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