Importance of Reproduction

Why do plants reproduce?

Living things do not live forever. They will die one day. To ensure survival and continuity of their own kind, they need to reproduce.

Like animals, plants reproduce to ensure the continuity of their own kind.

Most plants reproduce from seeds. However, there are some that do not reproduce from seeds. They have other way to reproduce young.

Ferns, moss and algae reproduce from spores.

   

Some plants reproduce from plants parts. Bud found on the underground stem of potato and ginger will grow into new plants.

Young plants will grow on the leaf margins of the bryophyllum plants.

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of

 an organism or of a group of organisms (taxon), normally a species

Living things that cannot ensure survival and continuity of their own kind become extinct.

An example would be the Yunnan Malva and the Wood’s Cycad, which are extinct in the wild.

Encephalartos woodii belongs to the cycad family. These plant species evolved approximately 240 million years ago in the early days of the dinosaurs. They are the ancestors of the flowering plants. Like all other cycads, Encephalartos woodii are dioecious. That means that there are male and female plants. In 1895, Medley Wood collected a male specimen of Encephalartos woodii from a steep mountainside in Natal, South Africa. Since female plants have never been collected, they are thought to be extinct.

   


To date, Wood's male specimen is the only representative of the species ever found. It may even be the only specimen left. Luckily, the plant regularly forms side-shoots at the base of the stem that are cut off and cultivated into separate plants. By sending these plants/stems to other botanical gardens worldwide, the risk of extinction is lowered and the male Encephalartos woodii can exist without female species members. This is the Hortus' way of supporting the survival of this unique plant species.