REPRODUCTION STRATEGIES FOR MAIRE YEW

Maire Yew (Taxus mairei) is an important ornamental plant with anticancer properties.
Since its natural resource is limited and reproduction is difficulty, both seed germination and stem cuttings were conducted under controlled environmental conditions.
Different storage regime had significant effect on germination rate and seedling survival rate.
Seeds stored under moisture-controlled sand had the highest germination and survival rates of 97.3 and 92%, respectively.
The average seedling height was 36.6 cm and the highest plant was 48.0 cm.
Seeds directly sowing in the field had germination rate of 39.7% and the survival rate of 38.8%. The average seedling height was 13.2 cm.
Seeds of Maire Yew stored under the ambient conditions had detrimental effect and no germination was recorded.
Media played an important role on rooting of stem cuttings.
The highest rooting percentage, 78.0%, was observed from pure sand substrate and the lowest, 36.7%, was from red clay.
The mixes of perlite and sand, vermiculite and sand yielded 42.7 and 59.3% of rooting.
The best timing to collect stem cuttings of Maire Yew was late November, which led to the rooting percentage of 78.6%. Too early or too late will reduce the rooting percentage.
Soft-wood stem cuttings around late June should be avoided.
Both seed germination and stem cuttings could be applied for commercial production of Taxus mairei and further studies should focus on its germplasm resource and breeding.

XXVII International Horticultural Congress – IHC2006: International Symposium on Asian Plants with Unique Horticultural Potential

Jiangfan Yu, Bixia Xie, Xiaojin Wan, Xiaoming Wu

cutting propagation, growth, maire yew, media, reproduction, seed germination, seedling, Taxus mairei, timing

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.769.72