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THE PROPAGATION AND EVALUATION OF BALDUINA ANGUSTIFOLIA AND PARONYCHIA ERECTA FOR LANDSCAPE USE IN FLORIDA By CARLEE STEPPE A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2019 © 2019 Carlee Steppe To the people who try to make the world a better place ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my adviser Dr. Sandra Wilson for her guidance and mentorship over the high and low points of the last few years as well as her constant kindness and support. I thank my committee members Dr. Héctor Pérez and Dr. Mack Thetford for their direction and honesty that has always led me to grow as a scientist and helped create a better overall project. I thank Dr. Mike Kane for his ingenuity, knowledge and usage of lab space for micropropagation. I thank Dr. Edzard van Santen for his statistical assistance and constant patience. I thank Victor Vankus, Sarah Garvin and Kayla Herriman for their seed knowledge and advice. For technical assistance, I thank Mark Kann, Keri Druffel and Brian Owens. I thank my fellow lab members (Gabriel Campbell, Christopher Harchick, Jackson Jablonski, Heather Kalaman, Zhaoyuan Lian and Julia Rycyna) for their assistance in data collection as well as their friendship and understanding. Finally, I thank every person who helped to shape me over my academic and professional career. It takes a village to train a scientist and I shall be eternally grateful to mine. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 9 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 13 Justification for Research ........................................................................................ 13 Importance of Balduina angustifolia ........................................................................ 15 Importance of Paronychia erecta ............................................................................ 17 2 SEED GERMINATION AND EXAMINATION OF PHYSIOLOGICAL DORMANCY OF BALDUINA ANGUSTIFOLIA ....................................................... 20 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 25 Move-along ....................................................................................................... 25 Effect of GA3 on Germination ........................................................................... 27 Seed Germination Data Analysis ............................................................................ 28 Move-along ....................................................................................................... 30 GA3 ................................................................................................................... 31 Results .................................................................................................................... 31 Move-along ....................................................................................................... 31 GA3 ................................................................................................................... 32 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 33 Move-along ....................................................................................................... 33 GA3 ................................................................................................................... 35 3 SEED GERMINATION OF PARONYCHIA ERECTA .............................................. 46 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 46 Experimental Design and Data Analysis ................................................................. 48 Results .................................................................................................................... 49 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 49 4 FIELD PERFORMANCE OF BALDUINA ANGUSTIFOLIA AND PARONYCHIA ERECTA ................................................................................................................. 55 Performance of three populations of Balduina angustifolia ..................................... 57 Materials and Methods: B. angustifolia ............................................................. 58 5 Plant material ............................................................................................. 58 Site conditions ............................................................................................ 59 Visual quality, flowering and growth index ................................................. 59 Experimental design and data analysis ...................................................... 60 Results/Discussion: B. angustifolia ................................................................... 61 Performance of Paronychia erecta at two sites outside of its native range in FL .... 63 Materials and Methods: P. erecta ..................................................................... 63 Plant material ............................................................................................. 63 Site conditions ............................................................................................ 64 Visual quality, flowering and growth index ................................................. 65 Experimental design and data analysis ...................................................... 65 Results/Discussion: P. erecta ........................................................................... 66 5 IN VITRO ESTABLISHMENT AND MULTIPLICATION OF PARONYCHIA ERECTA ................................................................................................................. 84 Materials and Methods............................................................................................ 87 Stage 0-Seed Collection ................................................................................... 87 Stage I-Establishment ...................................................................................... 88 Stage II-Multiplication ....................................................................................... 89 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................... 90 Results .................................................................................................................... 90 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 93 6 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................... 104 Balduina angustifolia ............................................................................................. 104 Paronychia erecta ................................................................................................. 105 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 107 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 118 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 2-1 Pre-germination viability, average final germination, and weeks to final germination of Balduina angustifolia from three seed sources at four alternating seasonal temperatures and two move-along treatments .................. 37 2-2 Number of plants seed were collected from for Balduina angustifolia GA3 study from four locations Mean height (cm), width (cm) and growth index (cm) (width + height/2) ........................................................................................ 38 2-3 Average final germination, pre- and post-germination viability, and time to 0.50 of final germination proportion (T50FG) of Balduina angustifolia from four seed sources treated with four GA3 concentrations (ppm). ................................ 38 2-4 Effects of location (Loc), GA3 concentration and the interaction of location and GA3 concentration on final germination and time to 0.50 of final germination (T50FG) on germination of Balduina angustifolia. ............................ 39 3-1 Number plants seeds were collected from, approximate number of calyxes post-cleaning and fill (%) of those calyxes determined through x-ray analysis of 100 calyxes for three north FL locations of Paronychia erecta. ...................... 51 3-2 Pre-germination viability, cumulative final germination proportion (4 pseudo- reps of 50 seeds) and days to 0.50 of final germination proportion (T50FG) of Paronychia erecta from three Florida locations treated with four seasonal temperatures for 4 weeks. .................................................................................. 51 3-3 Effects of location, temperature and the interaction of location and temperature on final germination and time to 0.50