Reproductive effort of two perennial weed species in different habitats.
Abstract
The reproductive efforts of Rumex crispus and R. obtusifolius were studied in different habitats. The probability of flowering in R. crispus was correlated with rosette diam. the previous autumn. For both species, above ground dry wt/plant and reproductive effort differed significantly between habitats. Reproductive effort, based upon above-ground dry wt, varied between 0.42 and 0.61 for R. crispus and between 0.26 and 0.59 for R. obtusifolius. A simple allometric relationship between above-ground dry wt and fruit wt/plant holds for both spp. A large portion of the reproductive effort was devoted to ancillary reproductive structures which are photosynthetically active. From summary.