How Do Foliage Plants Reproduce?

Storage Organs

• Tubers, corms and bulbs are all root storage organs that help a plant reproduce from year to year. They all rely on rich soil conditions to absorb necessary nutrients for growth. Tubers have buds directly on the root system's surface so that new plants can emerge from these areas even if the storage organ is cut in half. Bulbs use nutrient-packed leaves tightly woven around a hidden flower bud for foliage production each year -- you cannot divide bulbs like a tuber, however. Resembling bulbs, corms use a nutrient-rich stem base within their storage structure to regenerate spring and summer plants each year in optimal soil and location conditions.

Above and Below Ground Growth

• Foliage plants that spread above the ground through vegetative growth allow the species to populate one particular area densely -- competition from other plants decreases as a result. Runners are vegetative stem growths that eventually fall to the ground and produce a new plant. Often referred to as a runner, stolons generate the same above ground stems, but can live independently of the mother plant. Runners, in contrast, must be attached to the original plant for nutrient and moisture access until the new plantlet grows roots in the soil. Below the soil surface, foliage plants also reproduce through underground stems called rhizomes. These hidden stems use their engorged structures as nutrient storage facilities. Multiple plants grow from one rhizome -- cut the rhizome in half and you generate two separate plants for reproductive success.

Cuttings

• An ingenious strategy for foliage plant reproduction is growing from cuttings. For example, a fleshy, cacti or succulent leaf is inadvertently broken off a mother plant. That discarded cutting easily grows into a new plant, depending on local soil conditions and available moisture. Growing from cuttings allows you to propagate your own plants quickly for a large garden spread rather than purchasing whole new plants. This reproductive strategy helps plants thrive in extreme conditions when other practices, like seeding or spores, are simply too difficult to develop.

Spores

• Some foliage plants create spores, or tiny cells, that slough off the mother plant. Commonly transported through the air, spores are often developed on leaf undersides where they are protected until they are mature enough to leave the original plant. Unlike a seed, spores need to attach themselves to a host that provides critical nutrient sustenance until they grow large enough to photosynthesize. Spore production saves the plant energy because it does not need to create a flower and subsequent seeds to reproduce.