Although sexual reproduction is more frequent, asexual reproduction also commonly occurs in the plant kingdom. The technical term for asexual reproduction in plants is apomixis, derived from apo meaning "without," and mixis meaning "mingling." Apomixis thus refers to the fact that asexual reproduction lacks the mixing of genes that occurs in sexual reproduction. In apomixis, a new individual is produced by a single parent without pollination or mixing genetic material. A familiar example of apomixis is the production of new plants by the growth of horizontal stems (runners) in strawberries (genus Fragaria). Other familiar plants with asexual reproduction include blackberries (genus Rubus) and dandelions (genus Taraxacum), both of which produce asexually formed seeds. Apomixis is of great interest to plant breeders, because it allows the production of exact genetic duplicates of plants with favorable characteristics.

Asexual reproduction in plants is divided into two general types: vegetative...