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RESPONSE TO CARBON MONOXIDE BY GEOGRAPHIC VARIANTS IN ACACIA FARNESIANA
Author(s) -
McMillan Calvin,
Cope Jess M.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1969.tb07575.x
Subject(s) - biology , acacia , seedling , botany , fabaceae , germination , horticulture
Differences in degree of defoliation in CO‐air mixtures were shown by geographic variants in Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd., a widespread, weedy, pantropic, leguminous tree. Laboratory‐germinated seedlings from Mazatlán (MAME‐1), Sinaloa, Mexico, showed greater sensitivity to a CO gradient than plants from Point Tuna (PORO), Puerto Rico. Seedlings of both strains grown under a light intensity of 200 ft‐c showed greater sensitivity to CO than those grown under 1,800 ft‐c. When intact plants of 17 geographic variants grown at low‐light intensities were exposed to 2% CO in air, 11 strains (Mexico, 8; Texas, 1; California, 1; Guatemala, 1) showed almost complete defoliation. The other six strains—from Brazil, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Italy, Algeria, and Micho‐acán, Mexico—showed defoliation averaging from 23 to 70%. The significance of the CO‐de‐foliation response is difficult to explain in terms of the natural distribution of A. farnesiana . It is suggested that this response may be correlated with some biochemical process of adaptive significance.