embryogenesis

1. (General) Development of an embryo. 2. (In plants) In vitro formation of plants from plant tissues, through a pathway closely resembling normal embryogeny from the zygote. Somatic cell embryogenesis is an alteRNA tive technique. The generation of embryos has two stages: initiation and maturation. Initiation needs a high level of the group of plant hormones called auxins; maturation needs a lower level.