From Seed to Seed:
Plant Science for K-8 Educators

Asexual propagation by aboveground structures. Now let's look at some other adaptations for asexual propagation.

Stolons, runners. Stolons, also called runners, are horizontal, creeping, aboveground stems. These stems travel along the soil surface and can sprout new, genetically identical plants at nodes along their length. Students that have picked strawberries will be familiar with runners-strawberries readily produce runners and sprout new plants. Also, houseplant lovers will recognize the runners on spider plants and the "baby" plants that develop at the nodes.

Stolons are an efficient way for plants to spread. Many ground covers and grasses spread by stolons-a plus if you are trying to fill a bare patch. Unfortunately, many noxious weeds also spread by stolons, making them difficult to eradicate.

Suckers. Another way that plants propagate asexually is by suckering. A sucker is a shoot that arises from an adventitious bud on an underground root. Blackberries and raspberries are famous for their vigorous suckering-in fact, left unpruned, these prickly brambles will spread, claiming a larger and larger area as their own.

Because they have both shoots and roots, suckers can be used to propagate plants. If you want more lilac plants, for example, look for suckers that are at least two years old. Using a shovel, you can sever the root connecting the sucker to the main plant. Wait several months (or until the following year) for the shoot to develop more feeder roots before transplanting.

As promised, we will now end this part of the course by talking about seed dispersal. Since so much of the plant's energy and lifetime go into producing seeds, this last stage is anything but trivial. In order for a species to survive, plants must take every available action to ensure that their seeds are successfully dispersed and are given the maximum chance for survival. Here's how they do it...