Stem Props, Mericlones, etc.

[Mahon]

Weiss,

Mericlones are plants which are the result of meristem propagation. Meristem is the central "brain" of the plant, which has all the information to make roots, leaves, flowers, pollen, and all the genetic traits... Mericloning is the same as "plant cloning". The flowers should be exactly the same as the plant it derived from.

Seed propagation is a more interesting way of propagation. With seed propagation, there would be two plants in flower involved for each pod produced from the pollen donor and the pollinated flower... so this promotes diversity in the genes. The flowers of this, depending on what kind of cross, will have different outcomes. Self crosses (x self) are usually about the same as the original plant, outcrosses combine features from the pollen donor and pod plant. Outcrossing is crosing the same species or grex, using unrelated plants.

An exception to this is self-pollination, where the pollinia touches the stamen because the lack of a rostellum in the column (or flexing pollinia which then touch the stigma, as in Holcoglossum amesianum). Self-pollination does not promote gene diversity. The flowers of these are almost always identical, but sometimes there are also mutations, which can be minor (coloration and/or shape), major (deformed plant and/or flowers), or good (nice shapes and/or colors).

Cuttings for orchids can be as simple as splitting a tuberoid or rooting a caniferous Dendrobium. This all depends on what kind of orchid it is. Most Macodes, Goodyera, and Ludisia are cuttings from other, usually larger, plants. These Jewel Orchids readily grow from simple cuttings. Some caniferous Dendrobiums can send out new shoots at any node along the cut cane. Vandaceous orchids can easily be propagated by cuttings, as long as there are plenty of roots. It may take a long time for the lower half (with no leaves) to recover and bloom. The plants should be exactly the same as the plant it derived from.

Stem props, I assume, would be the same as cuttings, stem propagation.

I hope this helps you understand the different methods of the more common types of propagation.

-PM