Table 7. Second-Year Performance of Plant Sources 

 at Snow's Cut, 1972.* 



Source 



Aerial 

 Dry Wt. 



(kg/ha) 



Root and 



Rhizome 



Yield 



(kg/ha) 



Height 

 (cm) 



Number of 



Flowers/ 



m 2 



Total 



Culms/ 



m 2 



Oregon Inlet 



9,281.0 



14,461.0 



132.0 



28.5 



79.1 



Ocracoke 



12,626.0 



19,651.0 



152.0 



25.1 



72.2 



Beaufort short 



9,233.0 



20,977.0 



117.0 



23.2 



89.9 



Beaufort tall 



9,723.0 



22,132.0 



158.0 



16.9 



50.9 



Snow's Cut 



12,336.0 



22,671.0 



143.0 



25.6 



68.7 



LSDt 0.05 

 0.01 



2,967.0 



t 



t 



11.2 

 15.0 



6.0 

 8.0 



12.5 

 16.7 



CV§ (percent) 



33.9 



56.9 



9.6 



30.4 



72.2 



*Data collected and plants harvested 19 September 1972. Means 

 of four 0.25 m 2 samples per plot taken from four elevation 

 zones. 



tLeast significant difference 



$Not significant 



§Coefficient of variation 



A similar trial was conducted in 1972 at Drum Inlet (Tab. 9). Growth 

 was slow and erratic, due presumably to the salt buildup on this site which 

 occurs periodically during the summer. Differences between sources were 

 small except for the low survival of the Snow's Cut plants. This response 

 would appear reasonable in view of the low salinity at Snow's Cut if it 

 were not for the fact that the Clayton plants were also plants from Snow's 

 Cut which were grown under freshwater irrigation before being transplanted 

 to Drum Inlet. 



A small test comparing Snow's Cut plants with Oregon Inlet plants was 

 conducted in 1971 at Oregon Inlet (Tab. 10). In this case Snow's Cut 

 material performed poorly when moved to a location with high salinity 

 and significant wind setup. 



The above results suggest that within a latitudinal region such as the 

 North Carolina coast there are naturally occurring populations of 

 S. alterniflora that are distinctly different in several respects, 

 including adaptation to specific sites, vigor, morphology, and flowering 

 dates. 



Extending beyond this immediate region, seeds of this species were 

 collected from populations from New England to Texas (Seneca, in press). 

 Germination response of these populations was examined in 1972, and some 

 of the seedlings produced were transplanted at the Snow's Cut field site 



33 



