ABSTRACT
The origins of plant propagation are hard to document, but it is reasonable to believe that plant propagation
co-developed with agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago. The earliest propagation may have been an inadvertent sowing of seeds gathered during collection and harvesting activities, which evolved into deliberate agriculture. Descriptions of early horticulture in Egypt, Babylon, China, and other countries suggest that the culture of ornamental and food crops was fairly well understood and that they could be propagated easily. The Old Testament contains the following passage from Ezekiel 17:22: “…I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it. I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain…it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar…” This indicates that the concept of taking cuttings was well known at that time. Babylon and Assyria were known for terraced gardens and parks. Such deliberate and extensive cultivation of ornamentals required knowledge of how they could be propagated. The Greek philosopher Theophrastus (371-287 B.C.), a student of Aristotle, made observations on the suckering of olive, pear, and pomegranate.
