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Leaf Traits And Leaf Life Spans Of Two Xeric-Adapted Palmettos, Warren Abrahamson
Leaf Traits And Leaf Life Spans Of Two Xeric-Adapted Palmettos, Warren Abrahamson
Warren G. Abrahamson, II
Plants of nutrient-poor, arid environments often have leaf traits that include small size, sclerophylly, long life span, low nutrient concentration, and low photosynthetic rate. Hence, the success of two large-leaved palmettos in peninsular Florida’s seasonally xeric, nutrient-impoverished uplands seems anomalous, given that their leaves are orders of magnitude larger than the leaves of co-occurring species. An examination of leaf traits and leaf life spans across four vegetative associations differing in available light using a 16-yr data set showed that leaves of Serenoa repens and Sabal etonia had low rates of leaf production coupled with long leaf life spans reaching 3.5 …