ABSTRACT
Woody and herbaceous plants grow from a seedling to a fully mature owering plant, a process occurs that is much akin to the changes that we go through as we transition through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Maturity is attained when the apical meristem changes from vegetative to owering in response to some environmental stimulus to ower, usually day length and/ or chilling. In its juvenile phase, a plant is incapable of owering or sexual reproduction even if the proper environmental cues to ower are given. This process is of profound impact to plant propagators because one of the characteristics of the mature phase is the difculty encountered with vegetative propagation either by traditional means or by tissue culture. Oftentimes, the true value of an ornamental, forest, or fruit selection cannot
be determined until it is fully mature and has exhibited owers, form, or fruit characteristics that make it unique and prized. This is also the time when it is most difcult to propagate either by conventional cuttings or in vitro.
