The practice of plant tissue culture has changed the way some nurserymen approach plant propagation. In the recent past, the applicability of this technology to the propagation of trees and shrubs has been documented. Some firms have established tissue culture facilities and commercial scale operations are presently in operation for the mass propagation of apples, crabapples, rhododendrons, and a few other selected woody species. The intent of this research update is to briefly examine "what is being done" and to explore "what can be done" with regard to the tissue culture of ornamental plants. Such a consideration necessarily includes an overview of tissue culture as a propagation tool. The major impact of plant tissue culture will not be felt in the area of micropropagation, however, but in the area of controlled manipulations of plants at the cellular level in ways which have not been possible prior to the introduction of tissue culture techniques.

Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition. Plant tissue culture is widely used to produce clones of a plant in a method known as micropropagation.