If Plants Don't Have Seeds How Do They Reproduce?

Ferns reproduce using spores rather than seeds.

Some plants never produce seeds and instead reproduce using spores. In other cases, flowering plants also use vegetative reproduction. This is a form of asexual reproduction where a new plant grows from a vegetative (not flower-related) part of a parent plant.

Seedless Vascular Plants

Some plants never evolved to produce seeds. Instead, they produce windblown spores and require water for reproduction. Examples of this type of plant include club mosses, ferns and horsetails.

Bulbs

Garlic reproduces asexually with a bulb.

Bulbs are actually very short stems with leaves swollen with stored food packed closely around the stem. A terminal (main) bud produces the next year's flowering shoots and lateral buds form new plants. An onion is an example of a bulb.

Corms

Corms, like bulbs, are formed by a short stem. Unlike in a bulb, however, the stem itself swells and stores food while the surrounding leaves only form thin, papery scales.

Rhizomes

Rhizomes are stems that grow horizontally underground and send up shoots that form new plants. Rhizomes are also sometimes used as food reserves for the plant.

Runners

Runners are horizontal stems that extend from the parent plant but remain above ground. When the terminal bud of a runner touches the ground, it takes root and produces a new plant. Strawberries are a popular example of a plant that uses runners to reproduce.

References

• Resources for Biology Teaching: An Introduction to Vegetative Reproduction
• Clinton Community College: Seedless Plants