Study on Clonal Growth Pattern of Sabina vulgaris in Mu Us Sandland

The clonal growth pattern of Sabina vulgaris, a coniferous clonal plant in Mu Us sandland, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was surveyed. The results showed that with the stolon extending, internode length and branching angle decreased, the branching intensity increased gradually within the 3 m range from the edge of the shrub to its center along the stolon. Internode length, branching intensity and branching angle were 5.9 cm, 4.4 and 55.3° in the shrub, and 1.6 cm, 13.7 and 38.3° at the edge of the shrub, respectively. The clonal architecture exhibited plasticity. The internode length, branching intensity and ramet length changed with an exponential model with extention of the stolon. The stolon of S. vulgaris was monopodial branching, and each ramet should possess more than 3 adventitious roots. Ramets could take on the phenomenon of "self-thinning" with clonal growth. There was a prior grade in allocation of the nutrients gained from heterogeneous space. The clonal architecture of S. vulgaris was the "mixed" type.