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Variability of male cones in Chamaecyparis as an example for Cupressaceae male cones
Author(s) -
Schulz C.,
Stützel Th.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
feddes repertorium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1522-239X
pISSN - 0014-8962
DOI - 10.1002/fedr.200511085
Subject(s) - chamaecyparis , cupressaceae , biology , diagram , intraspecific competition , pollen , botany , mathematics , zoology , statistics
In contrast to flowers of other seed plants, male cones in Cupressaceae show a high intraspecific variability regarding the number of scales per cone and the number of pollen sacs per scale. This is the first time a qualitative and quantitative analysis of this variability is given. The variability is shown in distinct patterns. A typical pattern or diagram can be gathered from the analyses of 30 cones, which illustrate the “normal” situation and the most frequent variability (average cone diagram). However, the overlapping intersections in the cone diagrams between the species do however not allow identifications based on single male cones. A detailed study of all five species of Chamaecyparis shows that all of them can be distinguished on the basis of their average male cone diagram. A principal component analysis shows that these five Chamaecyparis species form distinct clusters. Sample cones from different positions of the tree reveal no effect within the variability of the cone diagrams. In contrast, comparison between the species and its cultivars reveals a higher variability in cultivars. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)