>My Ping. x Kewensis has grown tiny buds about one third along the midrib
>of every leaf. Each bud (there are
>sometimes two per leaf) appears to be a new plant. I've never seen this
>before on this Ping or any other. Is it a form of
>asexual reproduction? Is it common?
Several (sub)tropical Pings display vegetative propagation by forming new
plantlets on the leaves. Other species form stolons (P. vallisneriifolia,
P. stolonifera) and some of the winter bud forming species propagate
vegetatively by gemmae (little winter buds at the base of the
hibernaculum). As a general rule those Pings which do not propagate
vegetatively are self pollinating (e.g. P. lusitanica, crystallina,
hirtiflora, villosa) while those with well developed vegetative propagation
mechanisms need cross pollination for successful generative propagation.
Juerg
___________________________________________________
Juerg Steiger, Institut fuer Aus-, Weiter- und Fortbildung IAWF
University of Bern, Inselspital 37a, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland
Office: ++41 31 632 98 87, Fax: ++41 31 632 98 71