Stolons generally emerge from near the crown of a plant, bend under their own weight, touch the soil, and develop plantlets at their tips. These, in turn, send out more runners in a stepwise fashion to claim an ever-widening circle of ground. Thus, a strawberry patch may grow from a single, spreading plant by this natural method of vegetative propagation. It is this same stoloniferous habit that makes some ornamental species well suited for use as ground covers.
