Prolification
(from proles, offspring, and facio, I make). A term denoting, in its widest sense. the reproduction of plants by means of buds, as opposed to reproduction by means of seeds. It is accordingly employed to denote the formation in many plants, e.g., the Houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum), of offsets or stolcns, of which the terminal bud becomes a new plant, and the connection with the parent is severed. It is also employed in cases where buds are formed along the edges of leaves, either on uninjured ones (e.g., Bryophyllum and Malaxis), or in those that have been injured or cut, as in propagating Begonias from the leaves.
The word is, however, frequently restricted to denote certain alternations that are often met with in the inflorescences and flowers of cultivated plants, in which leaf or flower-buds are produced where they do not naturally occur. If Prolification affects the inflorescence, it consists in the formation of leaf-buds, or of an unusual number of flower-buds. It is often well seen in such plants as Clovers and Plantains, in which the flowers are arranged naturally in a close head or spike. The Hen-and-Chickens Daisy, in which the flower-head bears a number of smaller ones around it, is a well-known example of Prolification of the inflorescence. When a single flower is affected, the flower-stalk may be prolonged through and beyond the flower, and may bear leaves or a flower-bud on it. This form of Prolification, known as "median," is occasionally seen in many plants, e.g., the Rose. It is peculiarly frequent in double flowers, i.e., flowers in which the stamens have been replaced by petals. Occasionally, the prolonged flowerstalk bears several leaf-buds or flower-buds. Another form of Prolification, called "axillary," consists in the growth of leaf-buds, or of flower-buds, from the axils of one or more of the parts of a flower. In this form, as in the last, the buds may develop into branches bearing several flowers. Such buds are most frequently situated in the axils of sepals. Next in frequency are those in the axils of leaf-like carpels; less often they are associated with petals; and least common is their occurrence in the axils of stamens. Axillary Prolification is far more frequent in plants in which all parts of the flowers are free, than in those in which they are united; and the flowers most liable to it generally have the top of the flower-stalk, or receptacle, naturally prolonged between the whorls of the flower, or possessed of a glandular disk, or are otherwise peculiar in structure. Those desirous of further information on this subject will find it fully discussed in Dr. Masters' "Vegetable Teratology," published, in 1869, by the Ray Society.