GROWTH, TUBER FORMATION AND SPREAD OF CYPERUS ROTUNDUS L. FROM SINGLE TUBERS*

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Abstract
Summary. Single tubers of Cyperus rotundus L. were planted at intervals over the year. Plant growth was slow and sprouting of tubers was inhibited at temperatures below 20°C, but tubers overwintered at temperatures above freezing point. In the warm season, plant growth and tuber formation rate closely followed air temperature and tubers were forming within 1 month from planting. No inflorescence appeared during the cool season.In autumn‐planted C. rotundus grown in containers, the ratio of aerial to subterranean weight decreased from 1·1 in December to 0·2–0·4 in summer. The weight of tubers in mid‐summer was about 10 times more than that present in December.Tubers formed at ail times of year and at various locations on plants sprouted readily in laboratory tests (76–100% sprouting). C. rotundus planted in March at wide spacings was grown in field conditions free of other plant competition for 20 months. Within 2 months the plants had spread to 90 cm. At the end of the first and the second summer of growth, the mean area of one plant was 7·6 m2 and 56·7 m2, respectively, and patches had expanded then by 2·8 m and 5·4 m, respectively, from the initial shoot. After 20 months of growth all tubers were present within the 0–40 cm soil depth, 60–70% of them in the 0–20 cm layer. About 30% of the tubers were within 1 m and 60% within 2 m of the plant centre.Under the patch centre there were about 1000 tubers per m2 with 0·3 kg dry weight; in the upper 20 cm more than 3500 tubers weighing 0·9 kg were present per m3 of soil. Croissance, formation de tubercules et propagation de Cyperus rotundus L. issu de tubercules uniques