Am. J. Bot. Join the BSA
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fox, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Haller, W. T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fox, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Haller, W. T.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Fox, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Haller, W. T.
(American Journal of Botany. 2000;87:811-818.)
© 2000 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Production and survivorship of the functional stolons of giant cutgrass, Zizaniopsis miliacea (Poaceae)1

Alison M. Fox2,2 and William T. Haller2

2 Department of Agronomy and Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, P.O. Box 110500, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-0500 USA

ABSTRACT

Giant cutgrass [Zizaniopsis miliacea], a tall emergent grass native to the southeastern United States, was studied in two Florida lakes. In Lake Seminole (15 176 ha) giant cutgrass forms large expanding stands, but in Lake Alice (9 ha) it is confined to a stable narrow fringe. By monitoring individual plants in Lake Seminole, it was found that an average decumbent flowering stem produced three flowers and ten nodes, 80% of which became rooted in the substrate. Such flowering stem development could potentially result in stand expansion of 2.2–2.7 m/yr, depending upon water levels and rates of node rooting. Once flowering stems became decumbent in Lake Alice, they typically broke, producing no more than two flowers with four nodes in a growing season. While still attached to the parent plant, few of these nodes were able to become rooted in the substrate, limiting the rate of stand expansion in Lake Alice. Sections of flowering stems bearing axillary shoots that were detached from the parent plant and free-floating could become rooted on reaching shallow water and produce robust, new, flowering plants. This interesting mode of population dispersal and spread has important implications for the distribution and management of giant cutgrass.

Key Words: adventitious roots • axillary shoots • dispersal • giant cutgrass • functional stolons • Poaceae • stand expansion • vegetative reproduction






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2000 by the Botanical Society of America, Inc.