= Plant cutting
A <plant cutting> is a detached piece of a <plant>, such as part of a <plant stem>, <leaf> or <root system>, used to produce another <plant> by <vegetative reproduction>. A stem cutting must maintain a living <shoot> while forming new <adventitious roots>. Because this bypasses <meiosis> and <fertilization>, it can preserve the parental <genotype>, apart from <mutations> and pre-existing variation within the parent.
A practical example is a soft young <shoot> cut below a <node (botany)>, with lower <leaves> removed and its base placed in a moist, aerated medium. High humidity reduces <water> loss before the new <root system> can supply it; aeration avoids treating a rootless cutting as if it were an established waterlogged <plant>. The balance illustrates a physiological bottleneck: living <leaves> need <water> immediately, whereas a functional <root system> takes time to develop.<Cuttings: softwood by the RHS Advice Team>[Preparing nodal softwood cuttings and aftercare]{ref}
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