Jain Biology: Methods Of Vegetative Propagation

Plant parts such as stems, roots and leaves are used for vegetative propagation of plants. Naturally detachable structures such as bulbs or corms are separated and planted individually while rhizomes tubers etc. are cut into sections to obtain new plants from each section.

1. Bulbs:- Most of the bulbous plants produce buds which continue to grow forming daughter bulbs. These can be separated and used as propagating material.
2. Tubers and Tuberous Roots:-An individual tuber is a short, thick fleshy underground stem with scale-like leaves subtending nodes, commonly called eyes, e.g., tubers of the potato. Adventitious shoots develop from tuberous roots.
3. Rhizomes:- The horizontal, thick and fleshy or slender and elongated stems growing underground are known as rhizomes. They have nodes and in tomodes and readily produced adventitious roots. Examples are banana, ginger ferns and many grasses.
4. Corms:- A corm is a solid-enlarged underground base of a stem having nodes and internodes. The gladiolus, crocus and water chestnut are examples of corm-forming plants. Several new small corms called cormels develop from the lower port ion of the corm. These in turn are separated and when planted develop into new individuals.
5. Runners:- Runners are specialised aerial stems arising in the leaf axial of plants. The typical runner producing plant is strawberry.
6. Suckers:- Some plants such as pineapple, banana, etc, produce adventitious shoots from the underground portion of the stem or from their horizontal root systems. These are known as suckers and when they strike roots, they may be utilized as propagating material.
7. Offsets (or off shoots):- An offset is a shoot or thick stem arising from the base of the main stem of certain plants, such as date palm. They are girdled and layered for about a year before separation.