168 HOW NEW PLANTS ARE STARTED 



from the germ plasm in the roots, as shrubs and trees will 

 do. The willow will produce offspring from its twig*, if 

 they are cut off and placed in the ground properly. The 



SEED BALLS AND FLOWERS OF THE POTATO PLANT. 



begonia and other similar plants have the reproductive 

 power even in the leaf. 



118. The Two Great Ways of Propagating Plants. All 

 these various methods of propagation are classed under 

 two heads, sexual and asexual (non-sexual). 



a. The seed method is sexual. Stamens and pistils are 

 sex organs of plants. The pollen from the stamen con- 

 tains tiny particles of male protoplasm; the ovules of the 

 pistil contain female protoplasm. The union of the two 

 kinds produces an active germ plasm in the seed. 



6. Propagation from roots and cuttings, and indeed by 

 all methods except by seed, is asexual. The new plant 

 may be said to have a mother but no father. The 

 tendency to likeness between offspring and parent is 

 much stronger in this kind of reproduction than in re- 

 production by seed. 



