Propagation of fruit trees is usually carried out asexually by grafting the desired variety onto a suitable rootstock. Perennial plants can be propagated either by sexual or vegetative means. Sexual reproduction occurs when male pollen from one tree fertilises the ovules (incipient seeds) of the flower of another, stimulating the development of fruit. In turn this fruit contains a seed or seeds which, when germinated, will become a new specimen. However, the new tree will inherit many of the characteristics of both its parents, and it will not grow 'true' to the variety from which it came. That is, it will be a fresh individual with many unpredictable characteristics of its own. Although this is desirable in terms of increasing biodiversity and the richness of the gene pool (such sexual re