FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Possibly very dumb question here: A nepenthes cutting grows into an exact genetic match of the parent, right? Therefore it follows that if the parent is a male/female, the cutting will 100% grow into the exact same sex - true or false? Just checking, thanks!

True. A cutting is vegetative propagation, a clone of the parent plant.

Cretaceous wrote:Possibly very dumb question here: A nepenthes cutting grows into an exact genetic match of the parent, right? Therefore it follows that if the parent is a male/female, the cutting will 100% grow into the exact same sex - true or false? Just checking, thanks!

True! Any clone from a plant via divisions, cuttings, pullings, TC, etc. will be the same exact genes. There's also genetic drift with many many generations of clones but that's beside the point.

optique wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:53 am this may be a curve ball out of left field. but why do some plants lose color variegation in vegetative propagation such as rooting cuttings.

i guess that they might need to be bought up in certain conditions for variegation? idk. also, to quote google "Variegation loss in plants could also be spurred by changes in heat or cold. ... Once the leaves revert to all green, the plant can increase its harvest of solar energy, which in turn gives it more fuel to produce bigger and stronger growth. Waterlogged plants may also turn back and new shoots often come out green." maybe it didn't get enough light and went to all green but then it got more energy that way so stopped being variegated?

mutations can make the clones different over time

Jonathan the guru wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 5:37 pm mutations can make the clones different over time

i agree, however, just pointing this out that mutations are quite rare through cuttings.