Variation of flowering and pseudovivipary in Poa

Variation of flowering and pseudovivipary in Poa

Pseudovivipary is an intriguing asexual reproduction trait in which plantlets and bulbils develop instead of normal florets. Ofir and Kigel study inter-annual and intra-clonal stability of flowering and pseudovivipary across a rainfall gradient in clones of the summer-dormant grass Poa bulbosa and find large variability in reproductive behaviour, without a distinct time sequence of flowering and pseudovivipary across years. Pseudivivipary is enhanced by photoperiods less inductive of flowering, and inter-annual variation in flowering and psudovivipary is attributed to differences in the onset of the rainy season that result in different day-length and temperature conditions during the early stages of growth, which is when induction of flowering and dormancy occurs.