Influence of floret position and flowering time on seed set and thousand seed weight of Ceratoides arborescens

Some fruiting characters in 4 years old and 8 years old of Ceratoides arborescens populations were investigated in this study by determining the relationship between floret position and flowering time on seed set and thousand seed weight. The results of this study showed that the seed set rate and thousand seed weight of younger plants were higher than that of older plants because the younger plants had less branches than older plants, which wa beneficial to nutrients concentration. The seed set was related to the floret position and flowering time, indicating that the seed set rate in part of the inflorescences that flowered earlier was higher than that in the part that flowered later, and the thousand seeds were showed a simlar trend. As far as the whole population was concerned, the seed set rate and thousand seed weight in the middle layer of the canopy was the highest, and those in the lower layer of the canopy was the least. Those flowered in profuse flowering phase had the highest oppotunity to fruit, and their seeds were the heaviest, but those flowered in early flowering phase had the least opportunity to fruit, and their seeds were also lighter than those flowered later.