Flower removal increases rhizome mass in natural populationsof Alstroemeria aurea (Alstroemeriaceae)

PUNTIERI, JAVIER GUIDO; NURIA GATICA; GROSFELD, JAVIER

FLORA

ELSEVIER GMBH

Año: 2014

0367-2530

tPlant architecture and phenotypic plasticity under natural conditions remain little known for many rhi-zomatous species. This study evaluates, in situ, the plastic responses of Alstroemeria aurea plants fromthree Patagonian populations to flower or flowering-shoot removal. The size and architecture of treatedand untreated plants were assessed. Nutrient contents (N, P and K) were evaluated for rhizomes and rootsdeveloped in two successive years. Those plants that were deprived of their inflorescences developed, onaverage, a heavier rhizome than both control plants and plants from which flowering shoots had beenremoved. Neither of the two treatments applied altered the number of metamers or the branching patternof the rhizomes. The contents of N, P and K were higher in rhizomes than in roots. In summer, nutrientswere more concentrated in inflorescences and the new rhizome segment than in the rhizome segmentdeveloped in the previous year. The idea that fruiting failure in A. aurea promotes resource re-assignmentfrom aerial shoots to rhizomes without altering the architecture of plants is supported. The developmentof the underground portion of aerial shoots in late summer-autumn allows A. aurea plants to take fulladvantage of short growth periods, but would impose a limit to plasticity.