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- Author or Editor: Rolston St. Hilaire x
A World Wide Web course tool (WebCT) developed by the Univ. of British Columbia was used as an aid in teaching landscape plant identification and landscape construction at New Mexico State Univ. WebCT is a set of educational tools that are easily incorporated into the teaching of classes. Course assignments, slides of plant materials, and course grades were posted on the Web. A chat tool provided real-time communication among students and the electronic mail facility allowed personal communication with a student or communication to all course participants. Access to WebCT is controlled by username and password, so course material is restricted to course participants. Student progress through materials posted on the Web site can be monitored because WebCT maintains records about student access to web pages. Course statistics, such as the total number of hits per page, time spent on each Web page, and the date and time when student first accessed or last accessed the Web site, are kept by WebCT. Students were able to review highly visual material such as slides of landscape plants at their own pace. Also, students had quick access to their grades.
Indigenous stands of Taxodium mucronatum Ten. are found in North and Central America, but relatively little is known about the propagation of the species. Progeny from one tree in the Mesilla Valley near Las Cruces, N.M., and from two trees in the Gila National Forest, New Mexico, were observed to be relatively cold-hardy. I initiated this research to find the best conditions for asexual and sexual propagation of those three trees. Terminal softwood cuttings were collected on 16 Oct. 1998 from a half-sibling of the Mesilla Valley tree, and from two half-siblings from the trees in the Gila National Forest. Cuttings were treated with two concentrations of IBA and rooted under intermittent mist in the greenhouse for 13 weeks. Cuttings taken from the Mesilla Valley source and from one of the half-siblings from the Gila did not root. The other half-sibling plant from the Gila showed 82% rooting when cuttings were treated with 8 g IBA/kg. Fifty percent of cuttings rooted when they were treated with 3 g IBA/kg. Root number and root length were greatest for cuttings treated with 8 g IBA/kg. Replication over time will determine whether stock plant environment and the time of taking cuttings affect rooting. Strategies that optimize seed germination and seedling development of asexually and sexually propagated material are being evaluated.
Although valued for its fall foliage color, bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum Nutt.) is not widely used in managed landscapes. Furthermore, information on the tolerance of bigtooth maples to drought is scant. We studied water relations, plant development, and carbon isotope composition of bigtooth maples indigenous to New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. Plants were field grown in New Mexico using a pot-in-pot nursery production system. Plants were maintained as well-irrigated controls or irrigated after the weight of pots decreased by 35% due to evapotranspiration. Drought treatment lasted 71 days. Among the drought-stressed plants, plants native to Logan Canyon in Utah (designated UW2), had the greatest root: shoot dry weight ratio (3.0), while plants with the lowest root: shoot dry weight ratio (0.9) were half siblings from a tree native to the Lost Maples State Park in Texas (designated LMP5). Among the five sources we tested, LMP5 had the greatest (1242 cm2) leaf area, while UW2 plants had the smallest (216 cm2). Regardless of the treatment, plants from LMP5 had the highest shoot dry weight (25.7 g). Plants showed no differences neither among sources nor between treatments in relative water content, specific leaf weight, xylem diameter, root dry weight, plant dry weight, relative growth rate, and carbon isotope discrimination, which averaged - 26.53%. The lack of differences in these parameters might be due to selection of these sources from provenances we deemed to be the most drought tolerant. Our selection was based on the results of a previous greenhouse study of 15 bigtooth maple sources. We conclude that these sources, and in particular, plants from LMP5 in Texas, might hold promise for use in areas prone to drought.
Mussaendas (Mussaenda spp.) are ornamental shrubs, and some cultivars are difficult to root. This study was conducted to explore how adventitious roots initiate and develop in the cultivar Rosea, and to determine if anatomical events are associated with difficulty in rooting stem cuttings. Stem cuttings were treated with 5, 10, 15 mm 1H-indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), or distilled water, and sampled every 2 days over 26 days to observe adventitious root formation and development. For analysis by light microscopy, the basal 1 cm of cuttings was embedded in wax and stained with safranin-fast green. Adventitious roots initiated from phloem parenchyma cells and from basal callus in nontreated cuttings. Cuttings treated with 15 mm IBA had a mean of 18 root primordia per basal 1 cm of cutting after 10 days. Root primordia were not observed in non-treated cuttings at 10 days. Root primordia that developed in non-treated cuttings lacked clear vascular connections. These results suggest that non-treated cuttings are difficult to root because few primordia are produced.
Traits associated with drought resistance vary with provenance of hard maples (Acer sp.), but the stability of differences ex situ and over time is unknown. We compared growth, dry-matter partitioning, leaf anatomy, and water relations of seedlings from central Iowa, eastern Iowa, and the northeastern United States over 2 years. Some seedlings from each of the three provenances were used as well-irrigated controls. The remaining seedlings were drought-stressed and irrigated based on evapotranspiration. Across irrigation treatments, plants from Iowa had shorter stems and higher specific weight of lamina, root: shoot dry-weight ratios, and root: lamina dry-weight ratios than did plants from the northeastern United States when treatments began. Biomass partitioning did not differ based on provenance after irrigation treatment for 2 years, but leaves from central Iowa had a higher specific weight, and their abaxial surfaces had more stomates and trichomes, than did leaves from the Northeast. Drought stress reduced conductance only in plants from central Iowa. Across provenances, drought stress reduced stomatal frequency, surface area of laminae, and dry weights of laminae and roots, and increased root: shoot dry-weight ratio. Leaf water potential of plants subjected to drought was lower at predawn and higher at midday than that of control plants. Drought did not cause osmotic adjustment in leaves. We conclude that the stability of foliar differences among provenances of hard maples validates using these traits as criteria for selecting ecotypes for use in managed landscapes prone to drought.
Its more westerly native range and apparent xeromorphic foliar traits have led to speculation that black maple (Acer nigrum Michx.f.) is more drought resistant than sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.). We examined differences in morphology and anatomy of leaves of trees of these species indigenous near the 43°N latitude in the midwestern and eastern United States. Leaves were collected during July, Aug., and Sept. 1995, from 10 trees in each of 24 sites at longitudes of 71°W in Maine to 94°W in Iowa. Density of trichomes on abaxial surfaces and lamina surface area showed quadratic relationships with longitude and were greatest for leaves from westerly sites in Iowa. The percentage of total lamina surface area partitioned in the two most basipetal lobes increased linearly with longitude. Abaxial surfaces had 6 to 960 trichomes/cm2, lamina surface area was 28 to 176 cm2, and surface area partitioned in basipetal lobes was 5% to 9%. A quadratic regression function related increases in trichome density to decreasing mean annual rainfall at collection sites. Specific leaf mass ranged from 3.5 to 7.6 mg·cm–2 and did not relate to longitude. Scanning electron microscopy showed leaves throughout the range had similar trichome morphology, and light microscopy is being used to examine variation in leaf anatomy and stomatal traits.
Mexican elder (Sambucus mexicana Presl.) is used in arid landscapes of the Southwest, but the plant is known for its unpredictable performance in those landscapes. We studied drought responses of mexican elder plants grown in an arid environment using an in-ground nursery production system. Plants were maintained as well-irrigated controls or exposed to cyclic drought and irrigated based on evapotranspiration. Drought treatment lasted 165 days. Plants exposed to drought had more negative predawn and midday water potentials than well-watered plants. The ratio of variable to maximal fluorescence (Fv/Fm) for the drought group (0.76), was near the optimum value of 0.8, suggesting that chloroplasts of drought-stressed plants maintained high levels of activity. Drought cycle, but not drought treatment affected stomatal conductance. Drought-stressed plants had lower transpiration rates than controls except at drought cycle five when transpiration rates were similar between irrigation treatments. Relative water content was higher in controls (76%) than plants exposed to drought (66%). Leaf area of well-irrigated plants was over four times higher than that of plants exposed to drought. Leaf area to root dry weight ratio of drought-stressed plants was 79% lower than control plants. Severely reduced leaf area of drought-stressed plants might be one reason why landscape personnel conclude that mexican elder plants perform poorly in arid landscapes.
Differences in foliar morphology and anatomy of hard maples (Acer saccharum Marsh. and Acer nigrum Michx. f.) may explain contrasting responses to moisture stress of these species. We conducted a 2-year study to examine leaf morphology and anatomy of populations of hard maples indigenous near the 43°N latitude from 94°W longitude in Iowa to the 71°W longitude in Maine. Leaves were collected from shoots exposed to direct solar radiation on multiple trees at each of 24 sites in 1995, and at 36 sites in 1996. Samples collected in 1995 showed stomate frequency on the abaxial leaf surface ranged from 380 to 760 stomata/mm2. Mean guard cell pair width and length were 16 and 17 μm, respectively. Stomate frequency related quadratically to longitude, was greatest for leaves from Iowa, and was negatively correlated with mean annual precipitation of the sample site. Leaf thickness did not vary with longitude and averaged 96 μm. Palisade thickness showed a greater correlation than mesophyll thickness to total leaf thickness. Mesophyll thickness was more highly correlated than palisade thickness to specific leaf mass, which did not vary with longitude and averaged 5.2 mg·cm–2. Analysis of leaves collected over both years showed trichome frequency and lamina area were related quadratically to longitude; the largest and most pubescent laminae were from westerly sites. These studies are being coordinated with greenhouse experiments on responses of seedlings from selected populations to moisture deficits.
Selection of sugar maples (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and black maples (Acer saccharum Marsh. ssp. nigrum Desm. or Acer nigrum Michx. f.) that will be more resilient than existing cultivars in managed landscapes could be facilitated by defining relationships between geographic origin and foliar traits critical to leaf function. We examined variation in leaf morphology and anatomy of both taxa, known collectively as hard maples, near 43 °N latitude and tested for relationships between foliar traits and the longitude of origin from 70 ° to 94 °W longitude. Leaves exposed to direct solar radiation were sampled from up to 20 trees indigenous at each of 42 sites during 1995 and 1996. All leaves from east of 75.84 °W and from 92.73 °W and further west expressed morphological characters associated with sugar maple and black maple, respectively; leaves with intermediate traits were found between these two longitudes. Leaves from 90 ° to 94 °W had the highest surface area due to increases in the areas of middle and proximal portions of laminae. Up to 1162 trichomes/cm2 were present on the abaxial surface of laminae from west of 85 °W, while laminae from further east were glabrous or had ≤300 trichomes/cm2. Laminae from western habitats also had relatively high stomatal frequency, and stomatal apertures of laminae west of 91 °W were particularly narrow. Longitude did not affect specific weight and thickness of laminae, which averaged 5.5 mg·cm-2 and 90 μm, respectively. Principal component analysis of laminar traits showed existence of two clusters. A large group dominated by data from trees in New England also contained data from trees as far west as ≈93 °W longitude; data for trees further west were clustered separately. Although phenotypic continua were defined, laminae west of 93 °W were distinct, which suggests trees selected there may function differently in managed landscapes than trees selected from native populations further east.