SCIENCE ASIA

Volume 46, No. 03, Month JUNE, Year 2020, Pages 271 - 279

Differences in floral development between lycoris radiata and lycoris sprengeri

Junhuo Cai, Junjun Fan, Xuying Wei, Donglin Zhang, Jiajia Ren, Lu Zhang

Abstract Download PDF

Lycoris radiata and Lycoris sprengeri are two typical plants of the genus Lycoris. They have different leafing and flowering patterns. To understand the habits of Lycoris species and regulate the flowering period effectively, we compared flower bud development of these two species using phenological, anatomical, and physiological measurements. Our results showed there were significant differences in phenology between the two species. The sprouting stage of L. radiata took place in autumn, the leaf growth period lasted seven months, dormancy lasted approximately 100 days before flowering, and there was no dormancy period after flowering. In comparison, the sprouting period of L. sprengeri was delayed until the spring of the following year, the leaf growth stage lasted approximately 3 months, the flowering stage took place from Jul–Aug, and dormancy lasted 1–2 months before flowering and for another 6 months after flowering. The flower bud differentiation processes of the two species were similar. During the entire flower bud differentiation process, the soluble sugar and protein contents, as well as the superoxide dismutase activity, in L. sprengeri bulbs were significantly higher than in L. radiata bulbs, whereas peroxidase activity was significantly lower.

Keywords

phenology, flower bud differentiation, flower development

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