The present invention provides methods of selectively controlling lignin biosynthesis in plants such that lignification is reduced or enhanced, as desired. The invention provides, for example, a method of reducing lignification in a vascular plant by ectopically expressing a nucleic acid molecule encoding an AGL8-like gene product in the plant, whereby lignification is reduced due to ectopic expression of the nucleic acid molecule. An AGL8-like gene product useful in the invention can have, for example, substantially the amino acid sequence of an AGL8 ortholog such as Arabidopsis AGL8 (SEQ ID NO:2).