Variation of flowering and pseudovivipary in Poa

Pseudovivipary is an intriguing asexual reproduction trait in which plantlets and bulbils develop instead of normal florets. Ofir and Kigel study inter-annual and intra-clonal stability of flowering and pseudovivipary across a rainfall gradient in clones of the summer-dormant grass Poa bulbosa and find large variability in reproductive behaviour, without a distinct time sequence of flowering and pseudovivipary across years. Pseudivivipary is enhanced by photoperiods less inductive of flowering, and inter-annual variation in flowering and psudovivipary is attributed to differences in the onset of the rainy season that result in different day-length and temperature conditions during the early stages of growth, which is when induction of flowering and dormancy occurs.