In addition to rating the colors of the upper and lower surfaces of needles of trees, evaluations were made in February 1996 and January 1997 of the general color/appearance when the total tree was viewed from a distance of approximately 10-15 feet. For those ratings, a subjective scale was used, with 1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, and 4 = excellent. Detailed data are presented for the 1996 ratings.
Differences Between Locations
Ratings were highest for trees of the Blister Run and Stone Coal Run collections,
with each having averages of 2.8, near the "good" rating, while ratings were
poorest for North Carolina trees (2.4). Ratings were slightly better, 2.6, for
trees of the Blister Swamp and two Canaan Valley sources (Table 6).
Differences Between Seed Sources
Of the individual half-sib families, trees of SS-387 from Stone Coal Run had
the highest rating (3.19) and six of 10 families from that area were among the
top third and two among the lowest-rated one-third. Trees of SS-416 from Canaan
Valley-Cortland Road received the lowest rating (2.11), with two other families
from that area among the lowest-rated and only one among the top third. Four
Blister Run families were in the top-ranked group and one was in the lowest-ranked,
while for Blister Swamp families, two were in the top-ranked and six in the
lowest-ranked one-third. Canaan Valley-State Park collections were represented
by four families in both the top- and bottom-ranked groups. For North Carolina
collections, one was in the bottom one-third and none in the top (Tables 3,
4, 6).
Data is not presented for the January 1997 ratings of the overall appearance/color of trees. However, as noted for comparisons of upper surfaces, ratings were somewhat higher in 1997 (overall average of 2.82) than in 1996 (overall average of 2.68), but ratings for individual trees were highly correlated (r = 0.69, probability < 0.001).
Differences Within Seed Sources
Standard deviations in overall color/appearance of trees within individual seed
sources ranged from 18 to 40 percent of seed-source means, with the least variation
for SS-393 from Stone Coal Run and the highest for SS-24 from North Carolina
(Table 6). For SS-387, top-ranked family for this trait, appearance of individual
trees ranged from 2.0 to 4.0, and for the lowest ranked, SS-416, it ranged from
1.5 to 3.0.