Plant reproduction

**Asexual Reproduction in Plants:**
– Involves budding, fragmentation, spore formation, regeneration, and vegetative propagation.
– Offspring inherit characteristics from one parent.
– Types in plants include vegetative reproduction and agamospermy.
– Apomixis can replace sexual reproduction in some plants.
– Vegetative reproduction aids in plant survival and expansion.

**Structures for Asexual Reproduction:**
– Rhizomes, prostrate aerial stems like runners and stolons, underground tubers, and gemmae are important structures.
– Gemmae detach from plants to form new clonal individuals.
– Gemmae are common in liverworts, mosses, and some higher plants.

**Methods and Usage of Asexual Reproduction:**
– Common asexual methods include cutting, grafting, budding, and layering.
– Fruit tree propagation often involves budding or grafting.
– Cuttings are branches rooted to form genetically identical plants.
– Grafting joins stems or buds onto different stems for propagation.
– Vegetatively propagated plants are important tools in plant research.

**Sexual Reproduction in Plants:**
– Involves meiosis and fertilization processes.
– Plants undergo alternation of generations with gametophyte and sporophyte phases.
– Gametophyte produces male and female gametes through mitosis.
– Fusion of gametes produces a diploid zygote that develops into a sporophyte.
– Sporophyte produces spores through meiosis for reproduction.

**Reproductive Strategies in Flowering Plants:**
– Flowering plants reproduce through sexual and asexual means.
– Reproductive organs are contained in flowers.
– Pollination occurs through the transfer of pollen to female stigmas.
– Fertilization leads to the development of zygote, endosperm, and seed within a fruit.
– Plants attract pollinators through various methods like color, scent, and nectar glands.