The Clonal Variety in Horticulture 



A. B. Stout, New York Botanical Garden 



Nearly all the most important fruit 

 crops, certain of the root and tuber crops, 

 and a long list of the perennials familiar 

 to the flower garden are propagated ex- 

 clusively by vegetative means. 



When the propagation is from roots 

 as in the Sweet potato, from tubers as in 

 the Irish potato, from the crown of the 

 stem attached to the root as in the Dahlia, 

 from bulbs or bulblets as in the Tiger 

 Lily, from runners as in the Strawberry, 

 or from cuttings as in the Grape, all 

 the individuals (roots, stem, branches 

 and all) of a variety are merely parts of 

 one original seedling or bud sport. In the 

 case of the propagation of the Apple, 

 Peach, Plum, Cherry, Feijoa, Avocado, 

 Orange, etc., by budding or by grafting, 

 the trunks and the branches grown from 

 the inserted buds or scions of any one 

 variety are all sister branches. Thus all 

 the many plants of the Concord Grape 

 are branches derived from one seedling 

 and the tops of all the Ruby Orange trees 



*This address was illustrated by numerous 

 lantern slides with comments and discussions 

 that were not recorded and hence not available 

 for publication. The main points of the address 

 were however as here printed. This address 

 first appeared in print in the Journal of the 

 Horticultural Society of New York (vol. 4, 

 pages 58-78, March 11, 1925) but it has seemed 

 desirable to reprint it, without illustration and 

 with a few changes in text, in this issue of the 

 Proceedings of the Florida State Horticultural 

 Society. 



grown are the branches of one seedling 

 plant. Except for bud variations that 

 may have arisen in the course of the re- 

 peated propagations, all plants of such a 

 variety are inherently alike with a con- 

 stitution that is identical. In a sense, 

 the entire variety is really one plant. 

 Such a variety is known as a clonal vari- 

 ety in distinction from a variety grown 

 exclusively from seeds as is one of the 

 annuals of the field and flower garden. 

 The distinction is readily evident and it 

 is one of particular significance in regard 

 to certain problems in the propagation, 

 the culture, and the orchard management 

 of crops. 



There are two main advantages in clo- 

 nal propagation. Usually it gives an easy 

 and a quick means of propagation ; for 

 example it is by far much easier to ob- 

 tain good plants from the runners of 

 the Strawberry or from cuttings of the 

 Grape than to grow them from seed. 

 But a very important reason for prop- 

 agating many horticultural crops by vege- 

 tative means is that the individual plants 

 do not breed true to type from their own 

 seed. 



Undoubtedly, hundreds of seedlings of 

 the Concord Grape, of the Bartlett Pear, 

 of the Baldwin Apple, or of the Taft 

 Avocado, could be grown without one 

 producing fruit sufficiently similar to 

 that of the seed parent to be marketed 



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