Abstract:Vegetative propagation, as one of the methods for forest tree propagation, has been well known and widely used for almost several centuries, but it is just recently that it has been used in tree improvement procedure for carrying out clonal breeding and clonal afforestation. This paper systematically reviewed its various roles as played in tree improvement works: (1) for preservation of the super genotypes; (2) for establishment of clonal seed orchards; (3) for mass propagation of select clones (plus trees, seedlings, and hybrids); (4) for clonal test and selection of best clones; (5) for screening of seed parents for breeding values; (6) for estimating genetic parameters; (7) for physiological studies and other potentialities of trees.If vegetative propagation is used in clonal breeding, there are some problems which should be considered with caution, such as (1) juvenility and uniformity are two basic criteria for the initial material of vegetative propagation of plus trees in clonal breeding; (2) successive rejuvenation is required to keep the propagated materials in a constant juvenile state; (3) to test the clones in planting application and to select them in the test are the reasonable procedure for clonal breeding; (4) planting of multiclones in plantation is desirable for widening genetic foundation; (5) use hybrid F1 clones in tree planting represents an attractive approach worthy to be practised in clonal breeding.