Phenotypic Plasticity in Turkish Commelina Communis L. (Commelinaceae) Populations

Abstract

Phenotypic plasticity was investigated in Commelina communis L. (Commelinaceae), which is a perennial herb native to temperature Asia (China) and widely naturalised in the central and eastern Black Sea regions were investigated C. communis has a relatively high ecological tolerance with respect to climatic and soil factors. It was found that the shoot length, leaf width, number of branches, dead leaves and flowers, root:shoot ratio, total -flower- and root biomasses, flower and root nitrogen and RE<inf>1</inf> and RE<inf>2</inf> varied significantly in among the three populations. In addition, there were statistically important correlations between reproductive effort (RE) values in the three natural populations of C. communis. Consequently, it was concluded that C. communis has a high phenotypic plasticity.