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CLONAL COLONY

A clonal colony is a group of plants (or a fungal mycelium) that has grown in a given location, the "individuals" originating vegetatively and not sexually from a single ancestor. In the case of a fungus, "individuals" typically refers to the visible fruiting bodies or mushrooms, these over a wide area developing from a common mycelium spread over a large area, hidden in the soil. Clonal colonies are common in many plant species. However, it is not always easy to recognize a clonal colony especially if it spreads underground and is also sexually reproducing.

Contents

Methods of establishment

  • With most woody plants, clonal colonies arise by wide-ranging roots that send up new shoots, termed suckers at intervals.
  • Trees and shrubs with branches that touch the ground can form colonies via layering, e.g. willow and blackberry.
  • Some vines naturally form adventitious roots on their stems so can easily send roots into the soil when the stems contact the ground, e.g. English ivy and trumpet vine.
  • With other vines, rooting of the stem where nodes come into contact with soil may establish a clonal colony, e.g. Wisteria.
  • Ferns and many herbaceous flowering plants often form clonal colonies via horizontal underground stems termed rhizomes, e.g. ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris and goldenrod.
  • A number of herbaceous flowering plants form clonal colonies via horizontal surface stems termed stolons, or runners; e.g.strawberry and many grasses.
  • Nonwoody plants with underground storage organs such as bulbs and corms can also form colonies, e.g. Narcissus and crocus.
  • A few plant species can form colonies via adventitious plantlets that form on leaves, e.g. Kalanchoe daigremontiana and Tolmiea menziesii.
  • A few plant species can form colonies via asexual seeds, termed apomixis, e.g. dandelion.

Record colonies

The Pando quaking aspen clone in Utah is often considered the world's heaviest and oldest (80,000 years) living organism. However, a redwood clonal colony may be heavier, and a creosote bush clonal colony may be older.

The only known clonal colony of King's Lomatia (Lomatia tasmanica) in Tasmania is well documented to be 43,600 years old. Other notable clonal colonies are of box hucklberry in Pennsylvania estimated at about 13,000 years old. [1].

Examples

When woody plants form clonal colonies, they often remain connected through the root system, sharing roots, water and mineral nutrients. A few non-vining woody plants that form clonal colonies are:

References

  • Cook, R. E. 1983. Clonal plant populations. American Scientist 71: 244–253.