Fruiting estimation of the potentially invasive species Amorpha fruticosa L. in the south of the Russian Far East

Abstract

In the south of Russian Far East Amorpha fruticosa (Fabaceae Lindl.) is used as ornamental plant. It actively blooms and fruits here and successfully spreads by suckers, rarely by seeds. There are another ways of Amorpha fruticosa application in Primorsky Krai – as melliferous and technical plant for reclamation of disturbed lands and formation of protective field belts. These activities requires a great amount of quality seeds and, in turn, investigation of Amorpha fruticosa seed propagation. The study of the morphological characteristics of fruits from 12 different places in the Primorsky Krai showed that the linear characteristics of the fruits have minor differences but length of racemes and seed germination vary greatly. The longest racemes are detected in the city of Bolshoy Kamen (17.8 cm), the shortest ones – in Nekruglovo settlement (12.7 cm). The largest fruit number has racemes from Partizansk city (152). The weight of 100 fruits varies from 1.16 g (Kraskino settlement) to 0.94 g (city of Bolshoy Kamen). Highest germination capacity is observed in plants at Lake Soldatskoe (91%), the smallest in plants from Strugovka settlement and the city of Bolshoy Kamen (43%). Absence of germination of seeds from Vadimovka settlement is probably caused by pest – American seed beetle, Acanthoscelides pallidipennis.