in biology, a special slender horizontal branch serving to propagate the organism. In botany a stolon—also called a runner—is a slender stem that grows horizontally along the ground, giving rise to roots and aerial (vertical) branches at specialized points called nodes. In zoology, stolons of certain invertebrate animals are horizontal extensions that produce new individuals by budding. Fungi spread by means of horizontal filaments (hyphae) that are also called stolons.