Micropropagation. Hand holding a test tube containing a pelargonium plant, Pelargonium sp., grown from a tissue culture. The layer of jelly in the test tube is a sterile soil-substitute which provides the nutrients needed by the plant. This plant is a clone grown from a tiny fragment or single cell of a parent" plant in a process called micropropagation. Carefully controlled conditions cause the fragment to develop into an embryo which then produces roots and shoots like a normal seedling. The technique allows mass agricultural production of genetically identical plants and is an effective way of propagating any genes introduced into the parent plant."