Unit 4: Reproduction                                                                1   2   3 

3. Reproduction in plants

3.1. Asexual reproduction in plants

Asexual reproduction is more common in plants than in animals.

It involves the formation of new individuals from the cells of a single parent.

There are three main types:

a) Spore formation:

It is typical of mosses and ferns.

A spore is a cell, surrounded by a hard protective covering.

        When it falls on the ground, grows into a new individual.

b) Vegetative reproduction:

New plants are formed from parts (buds) of the original plant.

Plants can increase its distribution and when environmental cconditions

are too hard to survive, they stay alive in latent form, until these conditions

return to be good.

These vegetative structures can be:

- Tubers: They can be roots or undergrownd stems with a reserve of nutrients

   and buds.These tubers become new plants. E.g. Potato.

- Bulbs: They are underground stems with thick leaves containing nutrients.

   These nutrients feed the shoot which will become a new plant. E.g. Onion.

- Stolons: They are aereal stems which root when they touch the ground.

  If stolons are separated from the mother plant they become new plants.

  E.g. Strawberry.

- Rhizomes: They are undergrownd stems that grows horizontaly. E.g. Iris

c) Fragmentation

     The new plant is created from a fragment of the mother plant.

3.1. What advantages do plants obtain reproducing in a vegetative way?

3.2. Identify the vegetative structures that are represented in the pictures.

        Then, listen and relate each description with the correspondant structure.