Some eukaryotic organisms use mitosis to produce not just new cells but entirely new organisms. Because mitosis exactly duplicates the genetic composition of the original cell, offspring produced by mitosis are genetically identical to their parent.

This activity is called asexual reproduction. It is common in plants and fungi and in simple animals.

Budding
Budding occurs when an individual organism produces an outgrowth or bud through mitotic cell division. The bud grows until it reaches a size where it can function independently. The bud then detaches, and becomes a new individual. Buds can be formed externally or internally. Budding occurs in unicellular organisms, like yeasts, and in simple multicellular animals such as sponges.

Asexual reproduction through mitosis allows animals to reproduce rapidly, and is beneficial when colonizing new or large areas or exploiting abundant resources. But because successive generations do not have significant genetic variation, they may be unable to adapt to changing conditions.

Vegetative Propagation
Vegetative reproduction is a type of asexual, mitotic production of new individuals that occurs in plants. It takes a number of forms—plantlets can grow out of leaves, runners can extend out from roots and stems and then sprout new individuals, or bulbs and tubers can split off new bulbs and tubers. In every case the offspring appear and grow by mitosis, and are genetic clones of the parent plant.

Many plants that are commercially sold are produced through vegetative propagation in order to maintain their appearance and other desired characteristics. The exploitation of asexual reproduction in crops is a valuable agronomic technique. However it is not without risk. If a virus or pest attacks the crop, all of the plants may succumb because they are all genetically identical.