The Evaluation of Sexual and Vegetative Propagation of Medicinal Plant Christia vespertilionis (Butterfly Wing Plant)

Abstract

Christia vespertilionis also known as butterfly wing plant is an ornamental and valuable medicinal plant grown in tropical and subtropical regions. Despite the importance, not much attention has been given to study economical propagation methods of C. vespertilionis. This work aims to evaluate between sexual (seeds) and vegetative (cuttings and in vitro) propagation techniques in terms of their viability and growth. Pretreatment of seeds showed that wet paper towel was observed induced a higher percentage of germination rate as compared to other treatments. A comparison between two types of cuttings indicated semi hardwood part propagated better than the softwood part. In the present study, in vitro shoot proliferation was obtained by culturing nodal node segments in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/L of 6-Benzyl amino purine (BAP). However, no root development was observed when well-developed shoots were transferred on rooting medium supplemented with various concentrations of Indolebutyric acid (IBA). We conclude that C. vespertilionis appear to propagate easily using seeds and semi-woody cuttings. Further investigation of in vitro propagation could potentially be used for future conservation and sustainable production of C. vespertilionis.