If I culture seed, I don't know what the plant is going to look like. That's because I know what the mother looks like, but I don't know what the father looks like. When I collect tissues such as leaves or stems, however, I'm expecting that they will produce a plant exactly like the plant we collected it from. Kitto explained that cloning is important because the appearance of the flower can be ensured only through this method of propagation. Back in the lab, Kitto carefully cleans the plant tissues and places each into a baby food jar along with a medium she has created to encourage regeneration.
Coconut milk is something of a mystery.
It's so full of sugar, vitamins, trace elements and other nutrients that it encourages and sustains growth. Kitto harvests her coconut milk and then stores it in dozens of jars in the freezer, keeping the milk fresh until she needs it. She explained that the first step in the process is to influence the stem to grow a callus, a thickening in the stem. We can do this chemically, too, when we add a growth regulator such as 2,4-D to the medium. If it is done right, new growth will emerge from the callus.