Reversion to juvenility: the use of epicormics in the micropropagation of mature wild shrubs of Vaccinium cylindraceum Smith (Ericacaeae)

An efficient in vitro method was developed to propagate the shoots of mature wild shrubs of Vaccinium cylindraceum Sm. by axillary bud proliferation on epicormic stems. In the initial culture, 46.9% of the epicormic buds produced new shoots with juvenile morphological features. The number of nodes per shoot and the shoot length for explants which originated from epicormic buds was significantly higher when compared to that of winter dormant buds but similar when compared to that of seedling buds. The three most distal buds of epicormic twigs produced the best rates of shoot initiation: 87.5% (position 1) to 62.5% (position 3).