Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew
Ray,
The term clone is a biological term to refer to any organism that is reproduced by asexual reproduction. The term can legitimately be applied to any asexually reproduced plant both in cultivation and in the wild including keiki's and divisions. It's a descriptor of the genetic combination of the asexually reproduced plant group, akin to how cultivar is used for cultivated plants, with the individual clone being referred to as a ramet.
The term mericlone, which is usually shortened to clone, specifically refers to a clone that has been produced by micropropagation of the meristem. It's still legitimate to call keiki's, divisions, etc clones. They just can't be called mericlones.
While people refer to cultivars as clones and vice versa the two terms are not strictly interchangeable. Cultivar can't be used for wild clonal populations and in non-orchid areas of horticulture where cultivars can be sexually reproduced (such as in annuals) the use of the word clone would be inappropriate.
:Really picky pain in the backside pedent who places too much emphasis on semantics: (just in case the admin ever make that emoticon)
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Thanks Andrew, while reading Ray's post I was going to provide teh same explanation. But you have been quicker than me and did in a fantastic way
I can only add that in-vitro clining does not necessarily need to be with meristematic tissues. You can use other tissues for in-vitro cloning. However, using meristematic tissues is the easiest method, and therefore widely used commercially in horticulture. Furthermore, meristematic cloning, when done correctly, can also be used to ensure virus free plants, and the rate of growth of meristem tissues is faster than the rate of tissue invasion of viruses (Note: Doing this is also not very easy as you need to use only the very very very apical cells of the meristem, and probably will need to do it a couple of times to achieve the desired result)
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