Initiation and development of western red cedar cones in response to gibberellin induction and under natural conditions

1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 1165-1175 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Owens ◽  
R. P. Pharis

Both seed and pollen cones in Thuja plicata Donn. are found at the tips of small lateral branches and form as a result of the transition of previously vegetative apices. The vegetative apex shows a cytohistological zonation similar to that found in other Cupressaceae and vegetative buds are not enclosed in scales. The first sign of pollen cone initiation occurred 13 days after the initial GA3 treatment under long days. Transition of the apex was marked by a slight increase in rate of cell division in all zones resulting in the formation of a mantle of small uniform cells several cells thick covering the surface of the apex. The apex increased in height and the long internode between the last-formed pair of leaf primordia and first pair of microsporophylls formed a short stalk at the base of the cone. The transition of a vegetative apex to a seed cone apex occurred 27 days after initial GA3 treatment and was similar to that for pollen cones. Bract primordia are initiated closer to the summit of the apex and are larger in initial stages than microsporophyll primordia, and longer internodes remain between successive pairs of bracts. Ovule initiation occurs when bracts have just begun upward growth. All microsporophylls, bracts, and ovules are formed during the few weeks after cone initiation and before cones become dormant. No anatomical changes occurred in either cone type during subsequent short-day cold treatment. A return to long-day warm conditions promoted normal cone development. Under natural conditions in the Victoria area, pollen cones are initiated early in June under long days and increasing day length while seed cones are initiated early in July under similar long days but decreasing day length. Development of both pollen and seed cones occurs during long days and decreasing day length. The possible relationship between sexuality of cones, gibberellin, auxin, and day length is discussed.


1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 2075-2084 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Owens ◽  
Marje Molder

Vegetative shoots initiate leaves and lateral branches continuously from mid-April until the end of September. No buds with bud scales are formed and the vegetative apex is enclosed by leaf primordia at various stages of development. Pollen cones are initiated on proximal vegetative shoots during a 3-week period from mid-June to early in July. Transition to a pollen-cone apex is marked by an increase in mitotic activity in the apex and by the formation of a lateral branch in the axil of one of the last-formed leaf primordia, causing the apex to appear to branch dichotomously. The lateral branch remains at the base of the pollen cone and may resume growth the next year after the pollen cone is shed. Pollen-cone development continues until the end of September. Meiosis occurs during the last 2 weeks of August, and pollen develops during September. Seed cones are initiated on newly formed, distal axillary vegetative shoots during a 3-week period from late June to mid-July. Transition to a seed-cone apex is marked by an increase in mitotic activity followed by bract-scale initiation. Usually three ovules are initiated in the axil of each bract scale. Seed-cone development is complete by early September and the seed cones become dormant. The pattern of reproduction in yellow cedar is compared to other conifers and the possible relationships are discussed between time of cone initiation, sexuality of cones, and day length.



1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Owens ◽  
Marje Molder

Seed cones in Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. are found at the tips of distal lateral branches and form as a result of the transition of a previously vegetative apex. Pollen cones may be formed similarly and are then found at the tips of less-vigorous proximal branches but more commonly they develop from newly initiated axillary buds on short proximal shoots. In all cases, apices undergo transition to the reproductive state after a period of bud-scale initiation. Some apices initiate many bud scales, then either initiate leaves or undergo transition to a seed-cone apex in July. Other apices initiate fewer bud scales, then late in June undergo transition to a pollen-cone apex. Transition to a reproductive apex is marked by an increase in mitotic activity and apical size and loss of the vegetative pattern of zonation. Zonation reappears during the slower period of late bract and microsporophyll initiation but is not as prominent as it was in vegetative apices. In seed-cone buds, all bracts, ovuliferous scales, and megaspore mother cells are formed before dormancy. In pollen-cone buds all microsporophylls and microsporangia are initiated before dormancy and pollen mother cells begin meiosis and remain in the diffuse diplotene stage during dormancy. Pollen- and seed-cone buds become dormant in December. The time of cone initiation and sexuality of cones may be influenced by day length. The pattern of reproduction in western hemlock is compared in some respects with that of other conifers.



1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Owens

Seed cones of Tsuga mertensiana (Bong) Carr. occur terminally on distal lateral branches and form from the differentiation of a terminal, previously vegetative apex, into a seed-cone apex. Pollen cones commonly occur on lateral branches and form from the differentiation of an undetermined axillary apex about 6 weeks after axillary bud initiation. Pollen cones also occasionally occur terminally. All cone buds began differentiation in late July after bud-scale initiation was complete and at about the end of lateral shoot elongation. Seed-cone buds initiated bracts and ovuliferous scales, but not ovules, before they became dormant at the end of October. Pollen-cone buds initiated all microsporophylls by early September. Microsporangia containing microspore mother cells differentiated before pollen-cone buds became dormant in mid-October. The time of cone-bud differentiation is related to vegetative bud and shoot development. The time and method of cone-bud differentiation is discussed in relation to T. heterophylla and other conifers having similar bud development.



1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 439-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna M. Colangeli ◽  
John N. Owens

The pollination mechanism in western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn) is described for container-grown clones. The seed cones ended dormancy at the end of February 1986, opened exposing the ovules, and soon after secreted pollination drops. Unpollinated cones remained open and secreted pollination drops for 15 to 20 days, before the expansion of the bract scales completely covered the ovules. The presence of pollen hastened cone closure so that it occurred within 4 or 5 days of pollination. Pollen in the micropyle was essential for ovule maturation and subsequent cone development. The developmental stage of the seed cones at pollination influenced the proportion of ovules per cone containing pollen (pollination efficiency). Each cone bore between 13 and 16 ovules. The proportion of ovules per cone that received pollen in the micropyles was highest when pollinations were conducted after cone opening but before bract scale expansion. A positive relationship was found between pollination efficiency and the length of mature seed cones.



2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-81
Author(s):  
Kole F. Adelalu ◽  
Xiao-Jian Qu ◽  
Yan-Xia Sun ◽  
Tao Deng ◽  
Hang Sun ◽  
...  


IAWA Journal ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Ellis ◽  
Paul Steiner

Five wood species, Oregon ash (Fraxinus latifolia Benth.), Balau (Shorea spp.), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), Western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don), and Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) were loaded in compression longitudinally, radially and tangentially. The wood cubes were conditioned to one of four moisture contents prior to loading. Small cubes were loaded until no void space remained after which samples were released and soaked in water. Stress /strain curves were recorded over the whole range of strain and cube thicknesses were recorded at the end of the compression, after release from the testing apparatus, and after soaking in water. Denser woods resulted in a greater Young’s modulus, higher levels of stress and shorter time to densification than did less dense woods. Higher initial moisture contents apparently increased the plasticity of the wood leading to a lower Young’s modulus and lower levels of stress during compression, greater springback after release of stress and greater recovery after swelling in water. Differences observed in the radial and tangential behaviours were believed to be due to the supporting action of the rays when the wood was compressed in the radial direction in balau and trembling aspen and to the relative difference between the lower density earlywood and higher density latewood regions in ash, Douglas-fir and western red cedar.



1967 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold MacLean ◽  
Koji Murakami

Proof of structure is presented for another lignan of the thujaplicatin series, 2,3-dihydroxy-2-(4″-hydroxy-3″,5″-dimethoxybenzyl)-3-(4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxybenzyl)-butyrolactone (I) (dihydroxythujaplicatin methyl ether). Analytical and spectral (ultraviolet, infrared, and nuclear magnetic resonance) data on derivatives and degradation products, in addition to the parent compound, are presented.



Botany ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (7) ◽  
pp. 353-359
Author(s):  
Kermit Ritland ◽  
Allyson Miscampbell ◽  
Annette Van Niejenhuis ◽  
Patti Brown ◽  
John Russell

We used microsatellite genetic markers to evaluate the mating system of western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don) under various seed orchard pollen management schemes. We primarily examined whether supplemental mass pollination (SMP) can reduce the observed selfing rates. Pollen blowing and “hooding” were also examined in smaller tests. Only SMP was consistently effective in reducing the selfing rate, from 30% to 20%. The correlation of paternity was quite high (60%–90%) in two of three orchards, and in these two orchards the application of SMP reduced this correlation by about 10% as well. The correlation of paternity is the fraction of full-sibling vs. half-sibling progeny, and unbiased estimates can be obtained with few loci, even single loci, in contrast to other types of paternity analysis. We also find the microsatellite amplicon sizes should be pooled into “bins” of 2–4 nucleotides, owing to unintended errors of assay; otherwise the estimates are biased. This new feature of mating system estimation was incorporated into the computer program MLTR.



1992 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Smith ◽  
Alan McLeod

Abstract Edible biomass estimating regression equations were developed for red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium), understory western red-cedar (Thuja plicata) and deer fern (Blechnum spicant) growing in potential second-growth Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) winter range on Vancouver Island, B.C. Vertical edible biomass height profile equations were also developed for red huckleberry and western red-cedar. These models may be used to objectively and conveniently help assess the amount of forage available to deer during severe winters. West. J. Appl. For. 7(2):48-50.



1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (12) ◽  
pp. 1376-1393 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Owens ◽  
M. Molder

Pollen cones and seed cones ended dormancy in mid-February, microsporogenesis occurred in late February, and pollination occurred for about 1 week in early March. Pollen was shed at the two-celled stage. Pollination drops were exuded from only a few ovules at one time. Pollen contacting the pollination drop was rapidly taken in. The pollination drop was withdrawn into the micropyle which was later sealed by enlargement of cells lining the micropylar canal. Megasporogenesis occurred in late February but female gametophytes did not mature and fertilization did not occur until late May. An archegonial complex formed containing seven to nine archegonia, of which several usually were fertilized. Proembryo development varied depending upon the size and shape of the archegonia. Usually, a 12-celled, three-tiered proembryo formed by mid-June. Cleavage polyembryony was not observed. Embryos were mature by mid-August and most seed was shed in September and October.The potential seed set was only 16 seeds per cone and filled seed averaged only 2.6 per cone. Most potential seed was lost because of early ovule abortion from unknown causes, insect damage, or low temperatures at or shortly after pollination. Some potential seeds were lost because the ovules were not pollinated or the embryos aborted. These seeds were soft but nearly normal appearing and contained spongy female gametophyte tissue. Methods of maximizing seed production are suggested.



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