VASCULAR STRUCTURE OF THE GERBERA SCAPE

Vascular structure of the scapes of ‘Tropic Gold’ and ‘Appleblossom’ gerbera was studied.
Two sizes of collateral vascular bundles were found in each cultivar. ‘Large’ vascular bundles had a mean width of 0.89 mm while ‘small’ bundles had a mean width of 0.46 mm.
The upper scape had fewer vascular bundles and less lignin and cellulose than the lower scape.
In each cultivar, the total number and size of vascular bundles 1 cm below the flower head was less than 15 cm below the inflorescence. ‘Tropic Gold’ and ‘Appleblossom’ had similar numbers of ‘large’ vascular bundles, but, ‘Tropic Gold’ had more ‘small’ vascular bundles. ‘Appleblossom’ had a smaller scape diameter than ‘Tropic Gold.’ ‘Appleblossom’ had more vascular bundles per unit of circumference than ‘Tropic Gold.’ ‘Appleblossom’ had a greater percentage of dry weight per unit of scape length and flower heads less than those of ‘Tropic Gold.’ These anatomical features provided ‘Appleblossom’ with greater resistance to postharvest scape breakage than ‘Tropic Gold.’

III International Symposium on Postharvest Physiology of Ornamentals

F.J. Marousky

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1986.181.54