Biomass allocation for vegetative and reproductive growth of Fritillaria przewalskii Maxim

Fritillaria przewalskii Maxim., a member of the Lilly family native in China, is used in Chinese herbal medicine. The plants have a reproductive cycle of 6 years. In order to better understand the growth characteristics of this species, the biomass allocation for plant organs at vegetative growth stages (V) and reproductive growth stages (R) were investigated. A reduced major axis (RMA) was used to analyze biomass allometric relationship between whole plants and bulbs/leaves, between bulbs and leaves/roots, between aboveground and belowground parts. Similar biomass allocation patterns over individual organs for plants were found during V and R. At both stages, most biomass accumulated in bulbs and least in roots. All organs displayed a similar growth partitioning for both stages of growth. The results showed that the differences of biomass allocation were affected by the plants size and the growth stages during growth and development of Fritillaria przewalskii Maxim.