Journal
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY-REVUE CANADIENNE DE BOTANIQUE
Volume 80, Issue 9, Pages 916-926Publisher
NATL RESEARCH COUNCIL CANADA
DOI: 10.1139/B02-080
Keywords
branch growth; branching pattern; crown maintenance; longevity
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Basal reiteration (epicormic shoot production from older branch axes) occurred continuously and repeatedly in branches of 450-year-old Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii (coastal Douglas-fir) trees reproducing sections of branches comprising less than 100 to as many as 10 000 foliated shoots. Basal reiteration occurred mostly from primary and secondary branch axes but also occurred from higher-order axes if lower-order axes had died back. Basal reiteration occurred in distal sections of upper-crown branches, while it occurred in more proximal sections of middle- and lower-crown branches, indicating that basal reiteration works to distribute foliage more uniformly within branches that have reached maximum size. Basal reiteration occurred repeatedly producing two to six generations of reiterated axes within branches. Less than 22.5% of foliated shoots on branches were produced by sequential branching of the primary axis. Basal reiteration also maintained a constant rate of new shoot production within the branch. Growth-ring analysis showed that basal reiteration occurred over a wide range of axis ages (5-58 years). In conjunction with previous studies, we showed that adaptive reiteration of various architectural units by epicormic shoot production is an inherent process that maintains foliage in the crown of old P. menziesii trees.
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