Folks often ask me if I have seedlings of certain plant cultivars desirable for bonsai use. Sometimes the answer is yes but often it is no. Named varieties are not generally produced from seed. They are propagated using asexual methods. Seeds result from the combination of genetic material from two sources: the ovum from the female part of the plant and the pollen from male portions of the same or more often another related plant. The combination of the genetic material from two sources will give seed that produces plants which are not identi-cal to the mother plant or the father plant. There is often a strong family resemblance but the seedlings will be brothers and sisters, not identical. The nature of seed production is that we always know who is the mother plant but it is very difficult to know who is the father plant. Cloning techniques such as rooting cuttings, air layering, or tissue culturing are used to get plants that are completely genetically identical. Grafting gives genetically identical tops but dissimilar roots (and a graft union to boot).
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