By late September, seeds were mature and aerial growth had decreased. 

 At this point, the stand consisted of large clumps of stems, 20 to 50 or 

 more, centered around the original transplant with rhizomes of various 

 lengths radiating from them and sending up new stems (rhizome culms) 

 (Fig. 38) . At this stage, the substrate was partially stabilized by 

 roots and rhizomes but the cover was still quite open, leaving much of 

 the surface bare. 



Seeds shattered rapidly following maturation in late September through 

 mid-October, and aerial growth took on the color of straw and became 

 susceptible to being broken and exported to the estuary by winter storms. 

 Belowground growth continued as evidenced by new rhizome shoots emerging 

 at the surface through the fall. Although not studied, it is evident 

 from observations that a substantial amount of root and rhizome expansion 

 goes on under these stands during the winter. 



By March of the second growing season, new shoots so populated the 

 surface that the original hills and rows were no longer identifiable 

 (Fig. 39). Following the flush of spring growth, the site appeared to be 

 fully stabilized, or very close to it, as far as vegetative cover could 

 go- 



Developmental data of this planting at Snow's Cut over the 3-year 

 period are presented in Table 20. 



In September 1971, three fairly distinct zones of growth consisting 

 of about the upper 25 percent of the vegetated slope, the center 50 per- 

 cent, and the lower 25 percent were visible. Growth was best in the 

 center of the slope and much poorer at both extremes. Consequently, the 

 planting was divided into these three zones for sampling purposes for 

 1971. However, at the end of the next growing season, it appeared that 

 four zones would be preferable and sampling afterward was done accordingly. 

 It became evident, after 2 years, that for most measures the two center 

 zones could be combined with little loss of information. Visually there 

 is some difference, but this is primarily in the number of invading plants, 

 and these are numerous enough to sample only in the original upper zone. 



A large increase in plant cover developed between the end of the 

 first growing season and the end of the second. This is reflected par- 

 ticularly in number of culms and in both aboveground and belowground 

 dry-matter production, with increases ranging from 3- to 10-fold. These 

 results probably indicate a concomitant increase in substrate stabiliza- 

 tion and resistance to wave action of the planted area. 



By the end of the third growing season, some additional aboveground 

 development was recorded (Fig. 40), but the real change was belowground 

 (Tab. 20). While top growth increased noticeably at the higher elevations, 

 root and rhizome production increased dramatically throughout. Such 

 increase in root and rhizome mass should substantially increase the 

 stability of the area. Although the belowground plant material was not 

 separated by species, it was nearly all S. alterniflora except in the 



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