Clonal colony

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A clonal colony is a group of plants (or a fungal mycelium) that has grown in a given location, the "individuals" originating vegetatively and not sexually from a single ancestor. In the case of a fungus, "individuals" typically refers to the visible fruiting bodies or mushrooms, these over a wide area developing from a common mycelium spread over a large area, hidden in the soil. With most woody plants, clonal colonies arise by underground stolons, or wide-ranging roots that send up new shoots at intervals. With vines, rooting of the stem where nodes come into contact with suitable substrata may establish a clonal colony. Many creeping herbaceous plants simply divide into more than one plant as they creep, forming large clonal colonies. Ferns often spread in this way. For example, the ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, forms large clonal colonies from underground stolons. A number of herbaceous flowering plants form clonal colonies via surface stolons, or runners; the strawberry is well-known for this manner of growth.

When woody plants form clonal colonies, they often remain connected through the root system, sharing roots, water and nutrients. Non-vining woody plants that form clonal colonies are:

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