Seasonal Variation of Reproductive Characters in Two Introduced Species of Taraxacum

두 외래종 민들레 번식 특성의 계절적 변이

Ecological success of introduced species is frequently attributed to the reproductive characters of those species. We examined the relationship between both flowering season and plant size and reproductive characters in two introduced species of Taraxacum, e.g., T. officinale and T.laevigatum. Seventy six plants of T. officinale and 23 plants of T. laevigatum were randomly tagged from a population at the sungshin Women's University in April of 1997. The size and number of vegetative characters such as rosette diameter, leaf number, and the largest leaf length and width were measured for each plant at the onset of flowering. The infructescence was collected continually from each plant before seed dispersal from April to August of 1997. The number of infructescence per plant, and seed number and total seed weight per infructescence were measured. Mean individual seed weight per infructescence was also obtained. T. officinale possessed larger sized, but smaller number of, leaves than T. laevigatum, thereby resulting in no significant difference in total leaf area. There was a trend that vegetatively larger plants in both of these species produced reproductive characters larger in size or greater in number, except for seed number and total seed weight per infructescence in T. laevigatum. All reproductive characters examined in T. officinale decreased toward the end of flowering season. In T. laevigatum, infructescence number per plant also declined during a flowering season: however, mean seed number per infructescence increaed toward the end of flowering season with no significant seasonal change in the total seed weight per infructescence. T. officinale produced on average about twice as many seeds per plant as T. laevigatum during a growing season. These two Taraxacum species produced quite small seeds in size compared to the endemic species, exhibiting a far better dispersal ability of introduced species. These data demonstrate that most reproductive characters decline in size and number in both species during a long flowering period, but the two species appear to employ different strategies to achieve reproductive success in disturbed habitats.