Cuttings Produce Plants By Stephen C. Myers Georgia Extension Service Throughout history, people have found it necessary to perpetuate plants from season to season because of the need for these plants. Whenever possible, they saved seeds, which were inexpensive to produce and easy to store. Many plants, however, don't come true to type from seed. That is, the new plants developing from the seeds won't be identical to the one from which the seeds were collected.
Totipotency is the physiological basis for reproducing plants from cuttings.
A piece of root, leaf or stem is removed from a plant. Using environmental, hormonal or mechanical techniques, the piece of the original plant is induced to form new roots and shoots. The plant that forms from the piece is an exact replica, or clone, of the original plant. Cutting propagation is the main means of reproducing plants in woody ornamental nurseries. It's extremely important, too, for propagating greenhouse crops, foliage plants and many fruit plants.