CHAPTER XVI 
REPRODUCTION—MODES OF VEGETATIVE REPRO- 
DUCTION 
Reproduction is the multiplication of individuals. It is 
brought about by the detachment of portions of the 
parent plant, which develop directly or indirectly into 
new plants. The portions detached may be either single 
cells or cell-masses. In the higher, or seed-plants, with 
which we are here concerned, two modes of reproduction 
prevail : 
1. The vegetative mode of reproduction, by the detach- 
ment of certain parts or organs from the parent-plant, 
which parts or organs are able to grow up directly into 
new individuals. 
2. The sexual mode of reproduction, which results in the 
formation of seed. 
There is one very important biological difference 
between the two modes of reproduction. In the vege- 
tative mode, since detached portions of the parent, buds, 
shoots, etc., grow up directly into new individuals, the 
qualities of the parent are continued unaltered in the 
descendants. Even the characters acquired by the parent 
during its own life are reproduced in the offspring, gener- 
ally without any appreciable loss in quality. In this way 
a single plant, distinguished above its fellows by the 
excellence or peculiarity of some quality in leaf, flower, 
or fruit, may be multiplied indefinitely for many genera- 
tions, the descendants repeating faithfully the characters 
of their predecessors. Many horticultural plants are 
sports, or freaks, characterized by the possession of some 
unusual habit or character. This may have arisen in 
the seed itself, as in the case of the Shirley poppy, or sud- 
denly in the form of bud-variation, upon the adult plant— 
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