Which term describes a form of vegetative propagation where new plantlets form from a base or side shoot?

• A. Offset
• B. Sucker
• C. Runner
• D. Tuber

Answer: (A)

Plantlets that form at the base or from a side shoot are a way a plant reproduces vegetatively by producing a small, self-contained offspring attached to the parent. This pattern is called offsetting. The plantlet develops from the crown or a basal shoot and can be separated to grow as an independent plant, preserving the genetic makeup of the parent. This differs from a sucker, which arises from roots or the rootstock and is not the same kind of base-side shoot proliferation. A runner involves a horizontal stem that extends away from the parent and creates new plants at its distant nodes, not directly from the base shoot. A tuber is a swollen storage stem, not a juvenile plantlet forming from a base shoot. Therefore, the term that best fits new plantlets forming from a base or side shoot is offset.