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Bulletin of Botanical Research ›› 2017, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (5): 761-767.doi: 10.7525/j.issn.1673-5102.2017.05.017

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Natural Regeneration Characteristics of Archidendron clypearia

MA Xing-Yu, LI Mei, JIN Wen-Yun, CHEN Zu-Xu, HUANG Shi-Neng   

  1. Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, the Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou 510520
  • Received:2017-03-21 Online:2017-09-15 Published:2017-09-15
  • Supported by:
    Supported by Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province,China(2011B020302001);Supported by Forest Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province,China(2011KJCX023);Supported by Administrative bureau of Forestry and Gardening of Guagnzhou Municipality(Grant No.[2016]03)

Abstract: In order to study characteristics of natural regeneration about medicinal plants-Archidendron clypearia, we investigated the seed production, dispersal, and recruitment and growth of seedlings of 42 A.clypearia seed trees naturally distributed in forest parks, nature reserves and ecological public welfare forests in July, 2015 and 2016 in Guangzhou, Huizhou, and Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China. The mean crown width in the left/right direction was very close to that in the up/down direction, however, 97.6% of the seed trees had inclined crowns that were more frequent on down-ward than the other directions, resulting the mean length of the upward crowns was about 1/2 of that of the down-ward ones. Inclined crowns of seed trees appeared to be, among others, one of the main factors affecting seed dispersal. The numbers of seeds and seedlings were significantly correlated with the distance to the base of seed trees, while the diameter at ground level and height of seedlings were not significantly varied among the different distances. All the studied parameters, except the number of seeds dropped, were not significantly different among all sub-plots(1.0 m×1.0 m) in the four directions. The newly emerged seedlings(1-2 weeks old) and one year old seedlings accounted for 87.8% of the total of seedlings, and none of five years old seedling was found under seed tree canopies, implying that it is hard for A.clypearia to maintain its population growth by natural regeneration. The overall result of natural regeneration of the species inversely correlated with the distance to the base of seed trees evaluated by a regeneration index derived from Entropy method, with the best regeneration result recorded in areas within 3.0 m away from the seed trees. A.clypearia appears to have more characteristics in common with those of the plant species with extremely small populations. Research needs in biological and ecological sciences should be a priority for the species in the near future.

Key words: Archidendron clypearia, natural regeneration, seed dispersal, seedling recruitment, regeneration index

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