The process of forming an embryo and the subsequent development of a complete plant from a somatic cell of a leaf is called somatic embryogenesis or asexual embryogenesis. This process occurs naturally in composite plants, cruciferous plants, grasses, legumes, palm trees and as shown in the picture, also in Crassula ovata (jade tree) of the Crassulaceae family.

This process was artificially propagated for the first time in 1958 in carrot by Steward F.C., Mapes M.O. And Smith J. (American Journal of Botany, 45: 693-703, 1958) and is currently a standard practice in the production of seed in vitro, in the field of plant biotechnology for the production to obtain resistance to certain diseases.

This phenomenon of somatic embryogenesis is also known as adventitious regeneration.