Open AccessFLOWERING CYCLE OF CHUSQUEA MOLLIS L.G. CLARK (MAGNIFOLIAE, CHUSQUEINAE, BAMBUSAE) IN THE VENEZUELAN ANDES
Author(s) -
Francisca Ely
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ciencia (en línea)/revista ciencia ceinci
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2697-343X
pISSN - 1390-1117
DOI - 10.24133/ciencia.v22i1.1411
Subject(s) - biology , herbarium , bamboo , population , juvenile , altitude (triangle) , botany , inflorescence , flora (microbiology) , geography , ecology , demography , geometry , mathematics , sociology , genetics , bacteria
Flowering cycles are poorly understood in the majority of woody bamboos, since their frequency and duration may vary according their growth-form and distribution across latitude and altitude ranges. Tropical Andean bamboos are known for combining gregarious (asynchronic) and asynchronic flowering events; the main objective of this study was to determine the flowering pattern of Chusquea mollis Swallen) L.G. Clark (= Neurolepis mollis Swallen), a monocarpic, native bamboo that grows in the subparamos and paramos of Venezuela and Colombia. The chronology of flowering events of this species was based on the revision of herbarium specimens, online databases and the occurrence of flowering events in two populations of the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela. Taking in account that age diversity may also contribute to identify flowering patterns in bamboo populations, we performed a survey of a single population located in the Páramo La Aguada. Our results suggest that C. mollis combines gregarious and asynchronic flowering cycles, after a relatively short vegetative period (5-7 years). The census conducted in a single population of La Aguada revealed the co-existence of plantlets, juvenile plants, vegetative, reproductive and post-reproductive adults, of which the juvenile were the most numerous group.