The modes of clonal growth are defined using
combinations of a few, mostly qualitative criteria which we considered as important:
- origin of the organ of clonal growth (stem, root, other)
- above- vs. below-ground position of growing tips producing daughter
ramets at the time of their initiation (epi- vs. hypogeotropic origin)
- resulting position of the daughter ramets with respect to the soil
surface (above- vs. below-ground)
- thickening of the organs of clonal growth serving as storage organs
(tubers, bulbs)
- length and longevity of spacers between ramets
Not all combinations are possible and other combinations are missing
in our flora. Therefore, we recognized 27 categories which are hierarchically related. All
clonal plants in the database belong to one (rarely two, three or four) of these 27
categories, named after typical representatives.
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