ABSTRACT
Plant cell and tissue culture techniques have developed into very powerful tools for propagation of ornamental species. G. Haberlandt suggested that techniques for isolating and culturing plant tissues should be developed and postulated that if the environment and nutrition of cultured cells were manipulated, those cells would recapitulate the developmental sequences of normal plant growth. Herbaceous ornamentals have been relatively easy to propagate via tissue culture, but success has been elusive with some taxa including woody perennial species and with members of specific families such as the Favaceae. Ornamental species from more than forty different families, excluding the Orchidaceae, have been propagated using tissue culture techniques. Recent reviews by T. Murashige on the propagation of higher plants and by D. P. Holdgate on the commercial aspects of propagation are available. Murashige has separated the steps in clonal multiplication into three stages: establishment of an aseptic culture; multiplication; and rooting and preparation of the propagule for transfer to soil.
