Viviparity literally means "giving live birth", from the Latin vivus ("living") and parere ("to beget"). The term is in use both in zoology and in botany as a term for certain classes of modes of reproduction, though it has different meanings in the two contexts. The adjective viviparous is derived from "viviparity" and describes both the various modes of reproduction and the organisms that reproduce in any such mode. In zoology viviparity refers to development of the embryo inside the body of the parent, eventually leading to live birth, as opposed to reproduction by laying eggs that complete their incubation outside the parental body. There are several forms of reproductive processes that answer to that description however, and they differ so radically, both in their nature and evolutionary origin, that no definitive and exclusive terminology is universally accepted, and the usage of the term is largely a matter of convenience and preference. In botany vivipary is a common alternative form of the term, and botanical definitions also vary. One usage refers to reproduction via embryos, such as shoots or bulbils, as opposed to germinating externally from a dropped, dormant seed, as is usual in plants; however, vivipary also may refer to plants arising from buds or seedlings that have formed or germinated while still on the parent plant, and are dropped when ready to establish themselves in the substrate. In botany too, the usage of the term is largely a matter of convenience and preference.

Read full article on Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA