Abstract
The number of buds per inflorescence fluctuates irregularly in the sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus L.) winter-flowering variety ‘Early Pink’. The number of buds per inflorescence and the fluctuation of the number of buds per inflorescence differ remarkably among plants. The number of buds per inflorescence, diameter of flower stalks, dry matter of cut flowers, and diameter of internodes increased, and short cyclic fluctuations in the number of buds per inflorescence were suppressed as the frequency of removing immature inflorescences increased. Using a moving average, the fluctuation of the number of buds per inflorescence was found to be a combination of two periodic fluctuations in 26 of 36 plants. The 2–3, 4–6, 8–12, and more than 15 node periodic fluctuations were found in 10, 15, 11, and 16 plants, respectively. From these results, the factors that cause the number of buds per inflorescence to fluctuate are discussed.
