A new approach in evaluating the efficiency of macromorphological description of reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel) stands

Newly proposed macromorphological characters and methods are presented and tested by canonical variates analysis and principal components analysis. Di viding ramets into "growth sections" avoids the problem that, depending on the environment and age, reed ramets are composed of different numbers of n odes. If the objective is to examine selected features of as many reed stan ds as possible, new characters are useful. The length and location of the l ongest internode provide stronger separation between different reed stands than the use of an increased number of internodes. To monitor the morpholog ical changes of the same reed ramets in situ during the whole vegetation pe riod, we proposed to measure the distances between the tops of leaf sheaths . Reed ramets need not be cut and disassembled, because between-leaf sheath distances are highly correlated with the lengths of internodes, and they e xplain the strong separation of the different stands. Using our formula, th ese distances can also be calculated, which provides opportunity for collec ting further information from previous morphological data or for comparing them with newly obtained data.