Precipitation contributes to plant height, but not reproductive effort, for western prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera praeclara Sheviak & Bowles): Evidence from herbarium records.

ABSTRACT: The western fringed prairie orchid (WFPO) is a rare plant found in mesic to wet tallgrass prairies in the Great Plains and Midwest regions of the United States. The size of WFPO populations varies considerably from year to year, and studies have suggested that population size is dependent on precipitation during critical periods in the plant's annual development. We hypothesized that plant height and reproductive effort would also be controlled by precipitation, either during these periods or over a broader period. We acquired available images of WFPO from 21 herbaria, and of these 141 individual plants had information adequate for analysis, although some population/year combinations were represented multiple times. For each specimen, we measured plant height (cm) and reproductive effort (

SUBMITTER: Biederman LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7487221 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature