page_title: Apomixis
hierarchical_section_title: Apomixis
caption_attribution_description: English: Okanagan valley, British Columbia, roadside
context_page_description: In botany, apomixis was defined by Hans Winkler as replacement of the normal sexual reproduction by asexual reproduction, without fertilization. Its etymology is Greek for "away from" + "mixing". This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus "normal asexual reproduction" of plants, such as propagation from cuttings or leaves, has never been considered to be apomixis, but replacement of the seed by a plantlet or replacement of the flower by bulbils were categorized as types of apomixis. Apomictically produced offspring are genetically identical to the parent plant.
  Some authors included all forms of asexual reproduction within apomixis, but that generalization of the term has since died out.
  In flowering plants, the term "apomixis" is commonly used in a restricted sense to mean agamospermy, i.e., clonal reproduction through seeds. Although agamospermy could theoretically occur in gymnosperms, it appears to be absent in that group.
  Apogamy is a related term that has had various meanings over time.
context_section_description: In botany, apomixis was defined by Hans Winkler as replacement of the normal sexual reproduction by asexual reproduction, without fertilization. Its etymology is Greek for "away from" + "mixing". This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus "normal asexual reproduction" of plants, such as propagation from cuttings or leaves, has never been considered to be apomixis, but replacement of the seed by a plantlet or replacement of the flower by bulbils were categorized as types of apomixis. Apomictically produced offspring are genetically identical to the parent plant.
  Some authors included all forms of asexual reproduction within apomixis, but that generalization of the term has since died out.
  In flowering plants, the term "apomixis" is commonly used in a restricted sense to mean agamospermy, i.e., clonal reproduction through seeds. Although agamospermy could theoretically occur in gymnosperms, it appears to be absent in that group.
  Apogamy is a related term that has had various meanings over time. In plants with independent gametophytes (notably ferns), the term is still used interchangeably with "apomixis", and both refer to the formation of sporophytes by parthenogenesis of gametophyte cells.
  Male apomixis (paternal apomixis) involves replacement of the genetic material of an egg by the genetic material of the pollen.
caption: Vegetative apomixis in Poa bulbosa; bulbils form instead of flowers
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