I would guess that plant types with considerable/noticeable topophysis are less common than those without it. And, BTW, the plants without noticeable topophysis are probably that way because of very short switch-over times from plagiotropic (branching/horizontally-growing) to orthotropic (leader-forming/upward-growing) growth. Cuttings from plants with the characteristic would have to be taken from vertical growth and the parent stock would have to be managed so that sufficient vertical growth would be present, if the grower wanted "normal" (vertically-growing) offspring. Selective pruning would be the way to best accomplish this. Most plants will have both orthotropic and plagiotropic growth. If you wanted to maximize orthotropic growth, you'd reduce plagiotropic growth (and vice versa).

At least that's my take on the subject.