Velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medic., is an important arable weed worldwide.It is currently not present in the northern regions of Europe, but there are reasons why it may move northwards: The weed has not reached the northern edge of its climatic range, increasing tokidoki hello kitty blind box temperatures, caused by climate change, will create more suitable growing conditions in northern areas, or the weed will adapt to cooler habitats.
Velvetleaf has an indeterminate growth, meaning that the reproductive output largely depends on the length of the growing season, which is determined by the timing of emergence and seed production.The purposes of this preliminary study were:1) To evaluate the growth potential of A.theophrasti in the Northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and2) to compare the phenology of populations from different European origins to evaluate the degree of adaptation to local climatic conditions.
Forty 5 L pots were buried in the soil flush with the soil surface, 10 velvetleaf seeds of one of four populations from Spain, the Czech Republic, southern Germany or France were seeded in spring 2010 and subsequent emergence was simply boho classroom recorded.In summer, plants were thinned to one seedling per pot and subsequent capsule production was recorded until the first frost.French and Spanish velvetleaf populations germinated earlier, produced capsules later, and tended to produce fewer capsules per plant than did populations from southern Germany or the Czech Republic.
In addition, French and Spanish populations had a lower percentage of dormant seeds.These differences are in agreement with observations and predictions made for the northward expansion of velvetleaf in North America.Velvetleaf could grow and reproduce in northern Germany but further phenological changes, in particular a shorter growing season, a higher reproductive output and a higher level of physical dormancy, are to be expected as adaptations to local climatic conditions.