Question

Mentha (Mint) has which one of the following?
A. Sucker
B. Stolon
C. Both A and B
D. Rhizome

Answer 1

Hint: Mentha is an aromatic herbaceous plant. It has a wide range of applications. The aromatic oil obtained from the plant is used in the manufacture of medicine and in imparting fragrance to substances. Mint plant shows a vertical form of growth.

Step by step answer: Sucker is a method involved in vegetative reproduction, where the process of reproduction is by the means of any vegetative parts, and not through fertilization. It is an asexual method of reproduction. Sucker is a long and slender stem or branch, which gets developed from the plant’s lateral roots and is non-green. It is developed under the ground. During development, it grows horizontally beneath the soil surface and emerges out of the ground as a new shoot or ariel portion. The sucker has nodes on it, which is the part having the axillary buds and scale leaves. In mint plants, the reproduction is through sucker, where the scale leaves and adventitious roots are present.
i. Stolons are another method through which vegetative propagation occurs. It is a modification of the sub-aerial parts. They possess long internodes compared to suckers and it grows about the ground surface. Jasmine is the example of a plant possessing stolen.
ii. The rhizome is also a variant of vegetative propagation, which has an underground development. It is a variant of stem modification. The terminal bud present in the rhizome gets developed into the aerial shoot part. It possesses both nodes and internodes. Rhizome occurs in plants such as Ginger.
Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note: Asexual reproduction occurs in plants through various specialized structures known as vegetative propagation. It is also known as cloning since progenies are morphologically and genetically similar. It does not have recombinant genes, due to the absence of sexual reproduction.