Vegetative reproduction and close packing in a successional plant species

HERBACEOUS perennials with determinate shoots commonly produce new aerial stems by rhizomes, stolons or adventitious root buds 1–5 . The usual result is a more or less dense clone. Preliminary field studies were made of tightly packed clones of goldenrods ( Solidago spp., Compositae), common in late herbaceous stages of succession in the eastern USA. These studies suggested orderly geometric patterns of rhizome production.