Digital Commons Network^™

Growth And Reproduction Of Local Ecotype And Cultivated Varieties Of Panicum Virgatum And Coreopsis Palmata Grown In Common Gardens, D. W. Williams, G. A. Houseal, D. D. Smith

Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conferences

Many practitioners prefer to plant seed from multiple remnant sources within the same region of the planting site. It is believed that this seed has improved fitness (survivorship, growth, and viability) over seed from outside the region. We tested this assumption by establishing two common gardens in northern and southern Iowa. Four varieties of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) from prairie remnants in northern and southern Iowa and two cultivated varieties from Nebraska and South Dakota}, and stiff tickseed (Coreopsis palmata) from prairie remnants in northern and southern Iowa, were established in a greenhouse and transplanted into each …