1985 Volume 31 Issue 2 Pages 167-176
The internode composition, based on the number of vascular bundle rings of the overwintering stem, and the length and the fresh weight of overwintering aboveground parts (overwintering stem+crown) of individual plants were examined in order to clarify the ranges of kudzu plants which made up a natural kudzu population. Kudzu plants were collected from a natural population in Kitabata, Motoyamacho, Nada-ku, Kobe, at the foot of the Rokko mountains. Individual plants were classified into 25 groups based on the internode composition of overwintering stems. The length and fresh weight of overwintering aboveground parts (OAP) ranged from 1.0cm to 62.7m and 0.5g to 4, 231g, respectively. About 53% of kudzu plants sampled were less than 1m in length and about 60% had less than 100g fresh weight of the OAP. Frequency distributions of the length and the fresh weight of the OAP were skewed with the highest numbers at the lowest size class. It is considered that the great diversity of internode composition is due to the variation among plants in the detachment of rooted nodes from the parent plants as well as in the dying and regrowth of stems. Also, the high proportion of plants which were classified into small size groups can be attributed to frequent detachment of individual rooted nodes from parent stumps.
