Animal DNA degrades over time (biological aging), due to shortening of telomeres, mutations, etc. But why can you take a cutting of a plant of a certain age and the cutting seemingly resets its biological clock? A cutting from a 30 year old plant will live a full lifespan, versus lifespan – 30 years.
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Many plants reproduce asexually; sometimes exclusively, sometimes not.
Consider the humble potato. It grows from a tuber, then grows more tubers. In its original native environment of mountainous Peru, a landslide might just knock some potatoes down to a lower level where they can just keep growing. Mints and many grasses spread through runners (stolons) more than through seeds.
*Oxalis* (woodsorrel, sourgrass) is a funny case: some species such as *O. pes-caprae* reproduce exclusively asexually, through bulbs and runners; others, such as *O. oregana* reproduce asexually with runners and sexually with seeds.
All asexual reproduction is effectively a specialized form of cloning.
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