Gemmipary

Gemmipary

With the term gemmipary (or false viviparity), in botany, we mean a type of asexual (or vegetative or agamic) reproduction.
The term gemmipary derives from gemmìparo (comp. Of gem and -paro) as a property of some roots or leaves that produce buds, or of an organism that reproduces by budding, such as yeasts.
The gemmipary is adopted by some plants which, as a consequence of various phenomena (sterility, adverse environment, seasonality, exposure to cold, etc.) originate agamic or bulbils, which detaching from the plant are able to reproduce a clone of the mother plant.
Among the budding plants we remember:
– Bulbous poa (vegetative buds instead of ordinary spikelets);
– Persicaria vivipara (vegetative buds instead of flowers);
– Lilium bulbiferum, Cardamine bulbifera, Saxifraga granulata, Kalanchoe daigremontiana etc. (dispersive gems instead of quiescent gems).