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Graft

Hardiness In Flowering Shrubs

Among cool-temperate ornamental flowering shrubs, the lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is often grafted onto privet (Ligustrum species), another example of rare, cross-generic compatibility. Rhododendrons, many of which have been deliberately bred for variants of flower size and color, are usually grafted onto a rootstock of Rhododendron ponticum. This species has pale purple flowers and is native from Spain and Portugal to Turkey. Rhododendron ponticum was the first rhododendron introduced to England in the mid-eighteenth century, and it is still the hardiest rootstock available, even surviving fires that destroy the above-ground scion.

See also Citrus trees; Plant breeding.


Resources

Books

Hartmann, H.T., et. al. Plant Science: Growth, Development and Utilization of Cultivated Plants. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1988.

Judd, Walter S., Christopher Campbell, Elizabeth A. Kellogg, Michael J. Donoghue, and Peter Stevens. Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach. 2nd ed. with CD-ROM. Suderland, MD: Sinauer, 2002.


David R. Murray

KEY TERMS

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Cambium

—A layer of actively dividing cells, from which tissues used for conducting water and nutrients (xylem, phloem) are derived.

Graft incompatibility

—The failure of a scion to establish a viable connection with a rootstock, sometimes involving active rejection by release of toxins.

Hardiness

—The ability of a plant to withstand environmental stresses, such as extremes of temperature, low soil fertility, waterlogging, salinity, drought, ultraviolet light, or shade.

Hybrid

—A plant derived by crossing two distinct parents, which may be different species of the same genus, or varieties of the same species.

Phylloxera

—A fatal disease of grape vines caused by an infestation of the aphid Dactylasphaera vitifoliae in the roots.

Rootstock

—The basal component of a grafted plant.

Scion

—The upper or transferred component of a grafted plant.

Vegetative propagation

—A type of asexual reproduction in plants involving production of a new plant from the vegetative structures—stem, leaf, or root—of the parent plant.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Glucagon to HabitatGraft - Compatibility And Incompatibility, Advantages Of Grafting, History And Important Examples Of Grafting, Disease Resistance