Correlations between genet architecture and some life history features in three species of Solidago

Members of the genus Solidago are among the most widely studied model systems in plant population biology. A comparative study of Solidago canadensis, S. altissima, and S. gigantea in an experimental garden showed that the three species had different patterns of shoot growth and development, leaf morphology and physiology, and biomass allocation at harvest. These differences were also found in the field. Contrary to some current taxonomic usage, our results show that S. canadensis should ecologically be treated as a separate taxon distinct from S. altissima, and that the latter may be grouped together with S. gigantea. Many of the biological differences between S. canadensis and the other two taxa, such as differential investment into sexual reproduction versus clonal growth, may be explained by differences in genet architecture. These architectures concern high compared to lower within-genet shoot density resulting from differences in rhizome lengths among the taxa (shorter in S. canadensis than in S. altissima and S. gigantea).