Vegetative Propagation - Introduction

Introduction

Your grandmother proudly shows you an African violet she has grown from seed. Its flower is really unusual: pink with tiny red dots. She grew this plant by pollinating a pink African violet with a red one and planting the seeds that resulted. You remember that pollinationThe transfer of pollen from the male reproductive organs to the female reproductive organs of plants. is the transfer of pollen from the male reproductive organs to the female reproductive organs of plants. It is a form of sexual reproduction.A reproductive process that involves the union of two individuals in the exchange of genetic material.

Only one of your grandmother's seedlings produced dotted flowers. She knows that if she pollinates this special plant with pollen from a different violet, she might not get any more plants with dotted flowers. Pollinated seeds, like the fertilized eggs of animals, contain the characteristics of both parents. The flower-color characteristics of the other violet may be stronger than the ones in the special plant. If so, none of the seedlings from this pollination will have dotted flowers.

Still, your grandmother is smiling. She knows how to grow more of these special plants without using pollen or seeds. She will use vegetative propagation.