Reproduction in plants

• Plants reproduce through asexual and sexual methods of reproduction.
• Asexual reproduction involves the simple division of the plant body into two or more parts or spore formation.
• New plant body is formed from a single parent. This happens under favourable conditions.
• Sexual reproduction takes place by the formation of seeds.
• It involves two parents and the fusion of male and female reproductive cells called gametes to form a single cell called the zygote.

Asexual Reproduction:

• Asexual reproduction is the simplest form of reproduction found in plants. It is of three common forms:

Budding 

Fragmentation 

Spore formation

Budding:

• Microscopic organisms, such as yeast and Hydra, reproduce asexually by budding.

Budding in yeast

• In this process, a small bulb-like cellular outgrowth is formed from the cell called a bud.

• This bud keeps on increasing in size and forms an independent organism which separates from the parent.

Fragmentation:

• It is a very common form of asexual reproduction in the plant kingdom, e.g., algae.

Fragmentation in spirogyra

• Algae, such as Spirogyra (pond silk), Fucus, etc., are the slimy, green, and small plants seen floating on the surface of ponds or in dirty drains.
• In this process, the adult organism just breaks up into two or more pieces called fragments.
• Each of these fragments grows up to become a new plant.

Spore Formation:

• Some plants such as ferns and mosses multiply asexually through spores.
• Spores are microscopic single-celled or several-celled reproductive bodies that are mostly spherical in shape.

Spore formation

• They are protected by a thick wall when conditions (such as humidity and temperature) are unfavourable.
• Once the conditions for germination are favourable, these spores burst out of the thick wall, start multiplying, and grow into new plants.

Vegetative Reproduction:

• Vegetative reproduction is also a type of asexual reproduction in which a cell, tissue, or part of an organ of a plant develops into a new organism.
• In some plants, vegetative parts such as root, stem, and leaf can be used to produce new plants.
• This can be done by natural as well as artificial methods.