Abstract

TORRES, Ya; LONG, Ma  and  ZALBA, Sm. Reproduction of Pavonia cymbalaria (Malvaceae), a native species with ornamental potential. Phyton (B. Aires) [online]. 2008, vol.77, pp.151-160. ISSN 1851-5657.

Pavonia cymbalaria A. St.-Hil. & Naudin (Malvaceae) is a native species of the southern mountains in the Province of Buenos Aires. Its morphological characteristics become it as a potential candidate for ornamental use. Crop requirements and seed germination were evaluated for this species in this study. Different treatments were applied to 640 mericarps: removal of carpel residues, mechanical scarification or exposition of mericarps and nude seeds to cold conditions. An untreated control was used for each of these treatments. Germination only occurred on nude seeds; this implies the existence of an extrinsic dormancy imposed by the harsh mericarp which covers the seeds. Mechanical scarification was not enough to induce germination. Germination was also not induced by cold conditions, which would suggest the nonexistence of an intrinsic dormancy. Obtained plants did not survive after transplanting, possibly due to infection by some fungus species. Fifty stakes of wild plants were obtained during winter or spring to analyze the possibility of obtaining new individuals through vegetative reproduction. Half of the stakes of each group was treated with a hor-mone to induce rooting just before planting. Plant survival was significantly greater (p<0.05) when using spring than winter stakes. However, hormone application did not produce significant results (p>0.05). Our results indicate that it is possible to successfully reproduce Pavonia cymbalaria from spring stakes. Future studies should focus in finding out the mortality causes of individuals cultivated from seeds.

Keywords : Pavonia cymbalaria; Vegetative reproduction; Germination; Southern mountains of Buenos Aires Province; Ornamental plants.

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