The relationship between vegetative branch growth and subsequent bearing of megasporangiate strobili in slash pine

Abstract

Shoot growth of primary branches and subsequent bearing of megasporangiate strobili seem to be relatively independent of each other in slash pine growing in northcentral Florida. Only overall length and diameter at the branch base differed significantly between 44 bearing and nonbearing primary branches measured in 1964. In contrast, a strong relationship appeared between vigor and subsequent production of strobili on 273 secondary branches. The 1963 and 1964 shoots and the terminal buds were longer and thicker on branches which initiated strobili in 1964 than on branches which did not. Bearing secondary branches also had produced more flushes of growth in 1964 than nonbearing ones, and those with the most strobili had been more vigorous than those with few strobili.