Studies on shade-endurance capacity of Oplismenus undulatifolius

A pot experiment was conducted to determine the effect of five shading conditions (shading rates of 0, 60%, 80%, 85% and 93%) respectively on morphological and physiological indexes of Oplismenus undulatifolius to study its shade-endurance capacity. The results showed that with the shading intensity increased, various morphological index (main stem length, new leaves number and tillers number) of O.undulatifolius were increased first and then decreased, while the relative water content of leaves gradually improved. Under the shading rate of 80%, the chlorophyll content reached its peak, the ratio of chlorophyll a/b was less than that under other environments, and the free proline content accumulated rapidly. In addition, with the shade the extension of time, chlorophyll content and ratio of chlorophyll a/b were decreased, meanwhile the accumulation process of free proline content became inapparent under the same shading treatment. According to the data, O.undulatifolius is suitable to cultivate under 80% shading condition in the higher canopy density under the trees or beside the buildings as a shadow tolerance groundcover plant.