 |
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Figure 7. Taper of 14-year-old trees of SS 419 (Canaan Valley-Cortland Road, left) and SS 384 (Stone Coal Run, right). |
Differences Between Locations
Average taper of trees (height/width, with larger values indicating "narrower"
crowns) from different collection areas varied over a relatively small range;
trees from the Blister Run, Blister Swamp, and Stone Coal Run areas had the
narrowest crowns, averaging approximately 180 percent as tall as they were wide,
while those from the Canaan Valley and North Carolina origins were "widest,"
approximately 170 percent as tall as wide (Table2).
Differences Between Seed Sources
Of the 50 half-sib families and stand collections measured, trees of SS-384
from Stone Coal Run had the narrowest crowns (195%), with five of 10 from that
area among the top one-third of families with the narrowest taper and none among
the one-third that were widest. The three families (SS-419, 416, and 425) having
the widest trees all came from the Canaan Valley-Cortland Road collection, and
trees of three other seed sources were also among the widest group (Figure 7).
|
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Figure 7. Taper of 14-year-old trees of SS 419 (Canaan Valley-Cortland Road, left) and SS 384 (Stone Coal Run, right). |
Trees of four Blister Run families were among those having the most narrow crowns, and two were among the widest; for Blister Swamp, trees of five families were among the most narrow one-third, and two were among the widest. For trees of Canaan Valley-State Park families, one was among the narrowest group, and six were among the widest. Trees of the two North Carolina stand collections were relatively wide, ranking 14th and 20th of the 50 seed sources (Tables 2, 3, 4).
| Table 4. Top- and Bottom-Ranked Individual Seed Sources
for Different Tree Traits of Half-Sib Families (West Virginia) and Stand Collections (North Carolina). | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trait | Highest Ranked Seed Source | Lowest Ranked Seed Source | ||||||
| All Sources | W.V. Sources | All Sources | W.V. Sources | |||||
| SS No. | Loc1 | SS No. | Loc1 | SS No. | Loc1 | SS No. | Loc1 | |
| 6-Yr. height | 389 | SCR | 389 | SCR | 410 | NC | 353 | BR |
| 11-Yr. height | 389 | SCR | 389 | SCR | 410 | NC | 379 | BS |
| Taper | 384 | SCR | 384 | SCR | 419 | CVCR | 419 | CVCR |
| Needle length | 390 | SCR | 390 | SCR | 24 | NC | 394 | SCR |
| Lateral limbs | 361 | BR | 361 | BR | 387 | SCR | 387 | SCR |
| Branch angle | 390 | SCR | 390 | SCR | 24 | NC | 419 | CVCR |
| Shape | 384 | SCR | 384 | SCR | 416 | CVCR | 416 | CVCR |
| Density | 384 | SCR | 384 | SCR | 425 | CVCR | 425 | CVCR |
| Top needle color | 387 | SCR | 387 | SCR | 368 | BS | 368 | BS |
| Bottom needle color | 24 | NC | 356 | BR | 416 | CVCR | 416 | CVCR |
| Overall tree color | 387 | SCR | 387 | SCR | 416 | CVCR | 416 | CVCR |
| Bd brk 5/14 | 398 | CVSP | 398 | CVSP | 410 | NC | 361 | BR |
| Bd brk 5/22 | 364 | BR | 364 | BR | 24 | NC | 361 | BR |
| Bd brk 5/29 | 364 | BR | 364 | BR | 410 | NC | 361 | BR |
| 1Location of Seed Sources: BR = Blister Run; BS =
Blister Swamp; SCR = Stone Coal Run; CVSP = Canaan Valley-State Park; CVCR = Canaan Valley-Cortland Road; NC = North Carolina. | ||||||||
Differences Within Seed Sources
As noted for tree heights, there was also considerable variation in tree taper
within seed sources. For the 48 West Virginia collections, standard deviations
varied from 8 to 22 percent of individual seed-source means (Table 2), while
the range in tapers of individual trees was considerably greater. For SS-384
for which crowns of trees were most narrow, the range in tapers was from 150
to 270 percent, while for SS-419 having the widest crowns, the range was from
120 to 180 percent (Table 2; Figure 8).
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| Figure 8. Variation in taper and density of individual 14-year-old trees of SS 393 (Stone Coal Run). |