Sexual reproduction of knotweed (Fallopia sect. Reynoutria) in Slovenia.

Simona Strgulc Krajšek 1 & Jasna Dolenc Koce 1

Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Vecna pot 111, SI- 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Published: 29 March 2015


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Abstract

Fallopia japonica and Fallopia ×bohemica are two very invasive taxa belonging to the group Fallopia sect. Reynoutria, which cause serious problems in Europe and North America. Both of these taxa and the less invasive F. sachalinensis occur in Slovenia. Their main mode of reproduction is vegetative, although some Fallopia plants in Slovenia produce large numbers of seeds. Morphological analyses of selected natural populations reveal that F. japonica plants with only male sterile flowers typically produce many seeds. Fewer seeds were produced by F. ×bohemica and F. sachalinensis plants, although they produce viable pollen. Seed germination and survival of seedlings after three years were moderate outdoors in a botanical garden. The nuclear genome size of maternal plants and their corresponding seedlings was determined using DNA image cytometry in order to detect the ploidy level and potential donors of pollen. Based on the C-values all of the maternal plants were of one of three ploidy levels, which correspond to the octoploid F. japonica var. japonica, hexaploid F. ×bohemica and tetraploid F. sachalinensis. The variability in the genome size of the seedlings is high, and the most frequent pollen donor is F. ×bohemica.

Keywords

C-value, Fallopia, genome size, germination, reproduction, Reynoutria

How to cite

Strgulc Krajšek S. & Dolenc Koce J. (2015) Sexual reproduction of knotweed (Fallopia sect. Reynoutria) in Slovenia. – Preslia 87: 1730