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BRANCHING PATTERNS OF LINDERA BENZOIN BENEATH GAPS AND CLOSED CANOPIES
Author(s) -
VERES JOHN S.,
PICKETT S. T. A.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1982.tb03356.x
Subject(s) - canopy , botany , biomass (ecology) , biology , plant stem , bract , shrub , leaf size , shoot , horticulture , agronomy , inflorescence
S ummaryLindera benzoin , a major forest shrub in central New Jersey, was studied in order to determine whether branching and biomass allocation differ between plants growing under open and closed canopies. Higher bifurcation ratios (ratio of numbers of distal to proximal branches) of open canopy plants combined with large interbranch distances, long internodes and large branch angles to the horizontal reveal a branching pattern very different from that of closed canopy plants. Plants under closed canopies possessed a higher proportion of leaf to total biomass. The ratio of overlapping leaf area to total leaf area did not differ between subsamples of the two groups, possibly due to small sample sizes. Leaf area, leaf biomass and branch biomass, for developmentally equivalent third order samples, were found to be greater in the open canopy group. The high productivity of Lindera in gaps, its branching characteristics, including, e.g. spiral leaf insertion and short interbranch distance, and a failure to adjust allocation in shady habitats as do some species, suggest that it is basically a multilayer plant that can effectively change branch presentation and leaf orientation in shady habitats. Thus, Lindera may be particularly well suited to exploiting both the small gaps and closed canopy matrix of old growth forests.