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Its Growth Is Considerably: Lateral growth in trees frequently begins later than growth in height, but the period of lateral growth is longer. Rates of lateral growth likewise are low at the outset, increasing after a few weeks and then diminishing. In view of the long annual period of lateral growth in trees, deleterious environmental conditions may exercise a pronounced effect on growth. In the wood of trees of temperate regions, narrow and wide growth rings may be observed, marking years characterized by unfavorable and favorable conditions for growth.
Introduced from Europe, it has become widespread in the United States and northward. It is common in all regions except the Gulf States. Kentucky bluegrass prefers sunny locations and grows best where the climate is neither very hot nor dry and where there is an abundance of water. Its growth is considerably slowed during very hot dry periods in summer. Under ideal conditions, Kentucky bluegrass grows as tall as 4 feet (about 1 meter), spreading by slender rhizomes and forming a good sod.
Growth Cycles.—Longitudinal and lateral (diametral) growth do not proceed continuously, but rather are cyclical phenomena with periods of growth activity alternating with periods of relative inactivity. One of the best illustrations of the periodic nature of growth in large woody stems is to be found in the annual ring pattern which characterizes the wood of trees of temperate regions. It has been suggested recently that even in the apparently ever-growing trees of the tropical rain forest, cambial growth is not a continuous process. |
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