Keywords:
Evergreen, Deciduous, Synchrony, Leaf phenology, Tropics, Reproduction
Tropical tree represents high diversity but the phenological studies are scare as compared to that of temperate forest trees. The present study was conducted to understand vegetative and reproductive phenology of five important forest trees in relation to prevailing climatic factors in ecologically sensitive tropical moist forest mountainous region of Indo-Burma. Phenological observations, viz. (i) leaf flushing, (ii) leaf fall, (iii) flower onset (date of first flowering), (iv) flower duration (date of first and last flower), (v) mean flowering date (peak of flowering), (vi) mean flowering amplitude (number of flowers produced per unit time), (vii) synchrony (flowering overlap among individuals), (viii) fruit set (development and retention), and ix) fruit drop, were recorded for two consecutive years from January 2012 to May 2014. The relation of observed variables with the climatic factors was analyzed. Four patterns of flowering has been observed in studied species, viz. (i) flowering during complete leafless period in Firmiana colorata (Roxb.) R.Br. (ii) flowering initially during leafless stage and later coinciding with leaf flush due to onset of rain in Gmelina arborea Roxb. (iii) flowering much later after leaf flushing in Lagerstroemia speciosa (L.) Pers. (iv) flowering during mature leaf phase as in evergreen species Schima wallichii Choisy and Callicarpa arborea Roxb. Duration of flowering was significantly positively correlated (p < 0.05) with rainfall, temperature and photoperiod in C. arborea, while other species exhibited weak correlation with climatic variables.
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The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewer(s) for comments and suggestions that has improved the quality of the manuscript.