Reproduction in

Plants

Jeanette Mara Tan, MSc

Two types of reproduction in plants:

1. Asexual – reproduction of plants without sex

-vegetative
-apomixis
2. Sexual - sex cells called gametes are produced. Two gametes,
called egg and sperm in higher plants, unite to form a single cell
called a zygote. The zygote is the first cell of a new individual
Two main types of asexual reproduction:
1. Vegetative reproduction
2. Apomixis

Vegetative reproduction results in new plant individuals without the production of

seeds or spores.

Apomixis
- an asexual reproduction that occurs without fertilization and not involving
meiosis.
- E.g. apomictic parthenogenesis
- the egg cell is produced through mitosis, develops directly into an embryo
without the prior fertilization.
- The offspring are full clones of the the maternal parent
Vegetative reproduction in flowering plants

Both (a) corms and (b) bulbs can self-propagate, giving Ginger forms masses of stems called rhizomes
rise to new plants. that can give rise to multiple plants.
Vegetative reproduction in flowering plants

Potato plants form fleshy stem tubers. Each eye in the Strawberry plants form stolons: stems that
stem tuber can give rise to a new plant. grow at the soil surface or just below ground
and can give rise to new plants
Vegetative reproduction in bryophytes: Bryophyta (Moss)

Fragmentation: moss stems or leaves often scattered by wind, water, or

animals grows into a new plant under favorable conditions.
 Vegetative reproduction in bryophytes: Marchantiophyta (Liverworts)

a. Fragmentation: When the dead and decay of the

older portions of the thallus reaches the
dichotomy, the young lobes become separated.
Each of these by apical growth grows into a new
thallus.
b. Adventitious branches: Occurs from the ventral
side of the thallus or even from the reproductive
buds. These branches, on separation from parent
thallus, grow into new plants.
c. By gemmae: Gemma are multicellular bodies
which are produced in large numbers in a gemma
cup borne on the dorsal surface of the
gametophyte along the midrib. Gemma with a
splash of water germinates into a new plant.
 Vegetative reproduction in bryophytes: Anthocerophyta (Hornworts)
a. Fragmentation: the cells in the basal older portions of
the thallus die and disorganized. When the progressive
decay and death of the cells reaches the branching
region of the thallus lobes. Each separated lobe by
continuous apical growth grows into new thallus.
b. Gemmae: Gemmae formation is noticed on the upper
surface and along the margin of the thallus. The
detached gemma (singular) grows into a new plant.
c. Tubers: Certain species of Anthoceros exposed to
drought regularly, develop rounded, marginal
thickenings called tubers. When the thallus dies, the
tuber remains and develops into a new thallus.
d. Persistent growth apices: In A. pearsoni and A.
fusiformis, only the apices persists through the long
summer and resume growth only when favorable
conditions for growth return. The persistent growth of
cells in the apex develops a new thallus.
e. Apospory: Produce gametophyte directly from the
vegetative cells of the sporophyte without reduction
division; produce diploid.
 Vegetative
reproduction in Ferns
• Vegetative buds that develop on the
rhizome
e.g. Bulbils are vegetative buds usually
towards the apex of the frond in some
species, but sometimes along the rachis or at
the base of pinnae of ferns. Capable of
producing roots and a new plant under
favorable conditions.
• b. Fragmentation of rhizome.
DOUBLE FERTILIZATION in
ANGIOSPERMS

1. Inside the anthers microsporangia, male

gametophytes divide by meiosis to generate
haploid microspores then undergo mitosis to
produce pollen grains. Each pollen grain
contains two cells; one generative cell that
will divide into 2 sperm and second will
become pollen tube cell
2. Ovule, contains megasporangium with
megasporocyte inside undergo meiosis to
generate 4 megaspore: 1 big, 3 small;
produces embryo sac
3. When pollen grain reach the stigma, pollen
tube extends and go down the style, enters
thru micropyle and 2 sperms deposited in
embryo sac
4. So there is double fertilization: one sperm
and egg combine forming a diploid zygote.
Other sperm fuse with 2n polar nuclei
forming endosperm (food reserve).
 In angiosperms, one sperm fertilizes the egg to form the 2n zygote, and the other sperm
fertilizes the central cell to form the 3n endosperm. This is called a double fertilization.
Reproduction in
gymnosperms