Seed production in forests of Chamaecyparislawsoniana
In 3 years of seed collection throughout the range of Chamaecyparislawsoniana (A. Murr.) Parl., 30 seed crops varied from 20 000 to 4 600 000 seeds per hectare. The overall mean was 829 000 seeds per hectare per year. Annual production per square metre of basal area (BA) varied from 600 to 185 000. Only 6 of 30 seed crops exceeded 50 000 seeds/m2 BA per year but these were produced by the youngest (65 year old) and oldest (450 + year old) stands and throughout the environmental range of the species. Of other seed crops, 11 had 10 000–50 000 seeds/m2 BA per year and 13 had fewer than 10 000 seeds/m2 BA per year. Year-to-year variation had a local, not regional, pattern. An open-forest community produced more seed per square metre of basal area than a denser one at two mixed evergreen zone sites. Seedfall peaked from October to November, with a smaller spring peak, but some seeds fell throughout the year. Most sites differed little in the timing of peaks. Germination of trapped seed from seven sites in 1 year was 11–44% and showed no correlation with crop size. Other species in this genus produce many more seeds per hectare than C. lawsoniana but there is no evidence that seed production limits reproductive potential of this species. In mixed forests, C. lawsoniana and especially Tsugaheterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. were over represented in the seedfall (compared with their basal area), whereas Pseudotsugamenziesli (Mirb.) Franco and Abiesconcolor (Gordon and Glend.) Lindl. ex Hildebr. produced less than their share.