ISHS Acta Horticulturae 56: Symposium on Juvenility in Woody Perennials
AN APPRAISAL OF PROSPECTS FOR RESEARCH ON JUVENILITY IN WOODY PERENNIALS |
| Author: | J.A. Romberger |
| Abstract:
The complexities of juvenility, aging, rejuvenescence, and senescence phenomena in trees and shrubs are inevitable consequences of the woody perennial habit. A core of dead tissue, increasingly voluminous and structurally complex as age increases, forms a scaffolding beyond which populations of self-renewing apical meristems generate new cells that differentiate into new tissues. Meanwhile, the ensheathing cambial meristem undergoes a great area increase. The meristematic, juvenile, mature, senescent, and dead coexist. But the meristems, nearly insignificant in volume, will determine the course of development. How are we to understand their function and control? From a basic research viewpoint some significant questions are: (1) What is the localization of juvenility and aging? (2) What are the attributes and consequences of increasing plant size and complexity? (3) Can meristems age? (4) What is rejuvenescence? (5) What are the physiological bases of heteroblastism and phase change? Available, but relatively little used, research approaches to these questions include: (1) An analysis of increasing size and complexity, (2) meristematic growth analysis, (3) culture of shoot apical meristems, and (4) tissue culture in situ. | |
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