The New Student's Reference Work/Reproduction

Re′produc′tion (in plants). In addition to the work of nutrition the plant must organize for reproduction. Two general types of reproduction are recognized. The first is vegetative multiplication, in which no such specialized bodies as spores are formed, but the ordinary vegetative body is used for this purpose. Among the lowest plants vegetative multiplication takes place by means of ordinary cell-division, and is the only method of reproduction used. In the more complex plants various outgrowths or portions of the body, as gemmæ, bulbs, buds, tubers, various modifications of branches etc., furnish means of propagation. The second kind of reproduction is by means of spores. Spores are specially organized to reproduce, and are not at all concerned in the nutritive work of the plant. There are two general types of spores, which differ from one another, not in their power, but in the method of their origin. The asexual spore is ordinarily produced by cell-division; the sexual spore is produced by the union of two sexual cells known as gametes. The general name of the sexually formed spore among plants is oöspore or, frequently, fertilized egg. The process by which spores form new plants is known as germination. See Spores.