Managing Seedling Emergence of Cuphea in Iowa

Cuphea, a western hemisphere genus of some 260 species, has been proposed as a domestic source of medium-chain fatty acids. These fatty acids are used primarily in soap and detergent manufacture and are presently extracted from imported tropical oils or from petroleum. Considerable difficulty in obtaining consistent plant stands with direct seeding has been experienced at two Iowa locations. Trials were initiated in 1987 and continued through 1994 to test various treatments upon seedling emergence of C. laminuligera Koehne, C lanceolata Ait., and hybrid C. viscosissima Jacq. X C. lanceolata. These treatments included planting depths from 1.3 to 6.4 cm, seeing rates of 1.5 to 10 kg ha-1, and soil packing or not. Emerged seedlings from pure live seed planted remained less than 60% with all treatments. Increased seeding depth decreased seedling emergence from 29% to 0. Increased seeding-rate increased the number of emerged seedlings, but significant increases were dependent upon the year. Soil packing significantly increased the number of emerged seedlings in 1994 by 14%. Heavy rainfall immediately after planting caused severe stand-losses in 1989, 1991, and 1993. Additional research on seedling emergence under differing conditions would be necessary prior to commercial planting of Cuphea in Iowa

‘Starfire’ Cuphea Hybrid

‘Starfire’ is a sterile hybrid of Cuphea ignea A. DC. xC. angustifolia Jacq. ex Koehne and is intended as a pot plant for greenhouse or home (Fig. 1). ‘Starfire’ is the first reported hybrid between these two species (Thompson et al., 1989) and has unique flower and foliage characteristics

Variability in Cuphea viscosissima Jacq. collected in east-central United States

Accessions of Cuphea viscosissima were collected from the central and east-central U.S. during two field explorations, one in 1987 and the other in 1989. Characterization and evaluation data of accessions collected in 1987 have been reported earlier. This paper reports the results of characterization and evaluation trials of the 1989 collections. Thirty-one of these accessions were grown for characterization and seed-increase plantings in 1990 and twenty-four of these in replicated evaluation trials in 1991 at Ames, Iowa. Morphological characters are rather uniform and resemble accessions collected in 1987. A new pale flowered form was identified. Glandular trichomes, which produce a sticky resin, occurred uniformly on the stems and flowers of all accessions, but their presence on leaves was variable. Fourteen of the thirty-one accessions lacked glandular trichomes on their leaves. Statistically significant variation occurred in plant height (59 to 90 cm) and mass (89 to 216 g), seed yield (0.9 to 7.0 g/plant), and the amounts of caprylic (8:0) (14.3 to 16.8%), capric (10:0) (68.0 to 71.9%), and lauric (12:0) (2.5 to 3.4%) acids. Variations in 100-seed weight, seed germination, and oil content were non-significant. The narrow range of variability found in these accessions collected from rather diverse ecological regions would suggest that C. viscosissima has occupied its native range rather recently, and has had little time to diversify genetically. The variability identified is being used in interspecific hybrid crosses with C. lanceolataAiton to develop a domestic source of medium-chain fatty acids

Morphological and agronomic variability in Cuphea viscosissima Jacq

Cuphea viscosissima Jacq. has been proposed as a possible domestic source of medium-chain triglycerides, particularly capric acid (10:0), a 10-carbon saturated fatty acid. Domestication of this species is dependent upon obtaining variability for the constraining characters necessary to make this wild species into an economic crop. This paper reports the variability found among 40 accessions of this species recently collected from the central US. plus three other accessions, all part of the Cuphea germplasm collection at the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station. Morphological variability is very limited. Significant differences were found in plant mass, plant height, postharvest seed dormancy, seed shatter, 100-seed weight, seed yield, oil content, and the amounts of caprylic (8:0) and capric (10:0) acid. The degree of natural variation in seed size, seed yield and in oil percent and fatty acids could be exploited to produce improved cultivars

Cool Season Grass Variety Comparisons in Harding County

The purpose of the plant nursery trial in northwestern South Dakota was to (1) proivde information for landowners on planting a special use pasture for grazing or hay production; (2) assimilate long term comparative yield and longevity data to support seeding recommendations; and (3) provide a visual comparison of sufficient size plantings for area residents, agency technicians, and others to observe growth and survival characteristics of various grasses

Germplasm Resources at the North Central Plant Introduction Station

History The introduction of potentially useful plant species into the United States dates back to the early 19th century when embassies were asked to collect and import these materials.A more organized effort was established when the Section of Seed and Plant Introduction was formed in 1898 within the USDA. No provisions were made, however, to store these materials adequately and much was lost (Wilson et al. 1985)