Factors Affecting Flowering of Rhododendron reticulatum D.Don ex G.Don in a Sub-urban Secondary Forest

Abstract

We investigated flowering of Rhododendron reticulatum in a sub-urban secondary forest of Nara City and examined factors affecting it. In the best predicting model of the flowering, i) the height of R. reticulatum, ii) soil exchangeable potassium content and iii) the ratio of basal area of R. reticulatum to its competitors standing within 3 m radius from R. reticulatum were selected as explanatory variables. The variable iii) was selected in each top two model. This suggests that managing the competitors standing within 3 m radius from R. reticulatum is important to promote the R. reticulatum flowering.