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Plant Asexual Reproduction Types

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Plant Asexual Reproduction Types

A plant exhibit at a community science center needs clear information about how plants can make new plants without seeds. Use the case files and your science knowledge to identify each method. For questions with more than one correct choice, select all that apply.

Case Files: Plant Clues

Study each plant’s method before answering Questions 1–4.

STRAWBERRY — A thin stem called a runner grows across the ground. A new plant forms where it touches soil.

POTATO — An underground stem swells into a tuber. Buds called eyes can sprout into new shoots.

ONION — A small bulb develops beside the parent bulb. It can grow into a new onion plant.

BEGONIA — A leaf cutting placed in suitable conditions can grow roots and shoots, forming a new plant.

1.Asexual reproduction makes a new plant from one parent, without fertilization. Which statement best describes the usual genetic relationship between the new plant and its parent?

The new plant is genetically very similar to the parent, except for mutations.
The new plant always has twice as many genes as the parent.
The new plant inherits half its genes from a second parent.
The new plant has no genetic material.

2.Match each plant in the case files to its asexual reproduction method.

Strawberry
Potato
Onion
Begonia

Bulb
Runner
Tuber
Leaf cutting

3.Select all the methods in the case files that involve a plant structure growing underground.

Runner
Tuber
Bulb
Leaf cutting

4.A potato has several eyes. Explain how one eye can help produce a new potato plant, and name the structure it belongs to.

Investigate and Explain

Use evidence from the case files to compare methods and consider their effects.

5.A class wants to clone a particular begonia using a leaf. Which method should they use, and what two parts must develop for the cutting to become a plant?

6.A grower wants many strawberry plants quickly. Explain how runners can help, using the terms parent plant and new plant.

7.True or false: Asexual reproduction usually creates more genetic variation among offspring than sexual reproduction does. Explain your choice.

8.A crop grown from asexual offspring is hit by a disease that most plants cannot resist. Explain one reason this can be a risk when many plants are genetically similar.

9.A student says, “Asexual reproduction means a plant never makes flowers.” Is the student correct? Explain the difference between making flowers and reproducing asexually.