EXERCISE 39 

 VEGETATIVE REPRODUCTION BY STOLONS AND RUNNERS 



Materials. Blackcap raspberry plants and strawberry plants in 

 place in the garden. 



Directions for work. 1. Stolons. When the new raspberry canes 

 which come up each spring have become long enough to droop 

 considerably at the ends, bend some of them down so that the 

 tips are in contact with the soil, which should be loosened up 

 somewhat at that point. Fasten each branch down by laying 

 a clod of earth on each one or by pinning down with a forked 

 stick. Examine from time to time, noting how the stem tip 

 establishes connection with the soil and forms a new plant. 



In a group of black raspberries such reproduction as the 

 above commonly occurs naturally, and examples may be found 

 without difficulty. Early in the spring the plants that have 

 been thus formed during the preceding season may be separated 

 from the parent plant and transplanted. 



Write a full description of the formation of new plants by 

 this method. 



2. Runners. Examine strawberry plants after the fruiting 

 season is past, which in most parts of the country may be in 

 July. Do you find any tendency to form new plants by the 

 rooting of branches in contact with the soil ? Are these branches 

 foliage branches of the usual type, as in the raspberry, or are 

 they special branches having reproduction as their principal office ? 



Write an account of your observations. 



References 



BERGEN and CALDWELL. Practical Botany, p. 85. 

 BERGEN and CALDWELL. Introduction to Botany, p. 90. 



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