OBSERVATIONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURE OF SANDERSONIA

In the first experiment on soil grown plants, stem length, number of flowers and daughter tuber weight were generally proportional to planted tuber weight regardless of tuber shape. Shoot emergence was earlier from fork shaped tubers than from marble shaped tubers, and from large tubers than from small tubers. Harvesting flowering stems at ground level reduced daughter tuber yield while removing immature flower buds increased tuber weight slightly compared to leaving plants intact. Cutting the tubers in half hastened the time of emergence of the second stem and increased total daughter tuber weight.

In the second experiment, container grown plants were dissected at regular intervals to observe the development of shoots, flowers, roots and tubers during one growing season. When planted as presprouted tubers, shoots emerged after 2 weeks, flowering occurred after 8 weeks and senescence of shoots commenced after about 12 weeks. Tuber size continued to increase for 16–17 weeks.

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