Stolons are modified stems that grow horizontally along the ground and produce a prostrate or sprawling mass of stems growing along the ground.
Stolons occur in woody plants (red twig dogwood - Cornus stolonifera),
herbaceous perennials (bugleflower - Ajuga),
and grasses (burmuda grass - Cynodon dactylis).
A shrub rose creeping by stolons.
Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) spreads by stolons to form large patches.
Runners are specialized stolons that develop from the crown of a plant that grows horizontally along the ground and forms a new plant at the nodes.
Stolons may also produce tubers at the tips of the stolon.
This is a mechanism for moving the new propagules (tubers) away from the main crown.
