ISHS Acta Horticulturae 56: Symposium on Juvenility in Woody Perennials
THE CONCEPT OF JUVENILITY IN WOODY PLANTS |
| Author: | R. Borchert |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.1976.56.1 |
| Abstract:
Common usage of the concept of juvenility implies that there is one physiological state, the juvenile state, which manifests itself in the various morphological and physiological phenomena observed in juvenile woody plants. Juvenile characters are often not highly correlated with each other. This suggests relatively independent control mechanisms for the various phenomena and raises doubts as to the validity of the concept of juvenility. Whereas research in juvenility of woody plants was focused primarily on vegetative reproduction and the induction of flowering, the most general aspect of aging in trees, namely the gradual increase in size and complexity, has been rarely analyzed and related to the phenomenon of juvenility. However, many of the morphological and physiological changes related to physiological aging can be understood as consequences of the increasing complexity of growing trees. This shows the need to apply systems thinking to such problems of organismic biology as juvenility and aging. Stating the problem of juvenility in terms of systems theory explains many of the practical problems encountered in juvenility research and indicates its theoretical limitations. Examination of the various attempts to prolong or shorten the juvenile phase shows that most successful manipulations are based on adequate consideration of the properties of a tree as a growing system. | |
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