Reproduction In Organisms

Vegetative propagation allows flowering plants to multiply asexually through specialised structures, a topic covered in NCERT Class 12, Chapter 1 (Reproduction in Organisms). In banana, the underground stem responsible for producing new shoots is a rhizome, a horizontally growing modified stem bearing nodes from which suckers arise. Since these arise from somatic tissue without gamete fusion, the new plants are genetically identical to the parent, preserving desirable cultivated traits. A bulbil is a modified fleshy bud, seen in Agave and Dioscorea, not the structure in banana. An offset is a short runner-like lateral branch found in aquatic plants such as Eichhornia and Pistia, so it does not apply here. A tuber, like the swollen stem tip of potato bearing eyes, is a different stem modification and is not the propagating organ of banana. A plausibility check confirms the answer: rhizomes are characteristic of banana, ginger and turmeric, all of which spread laterally underground, matching the description in the question.