Study on the Shade-Tolerance Ability of Glechoma Hederacea.

Planting understory groundcover plants has apparent ecological and agroforestrial benefits since it can greatly improve the ecological environment. However, this requires that the groundcover plants should have a certain shade tolerance. This study examined the shade tolerance of Glechoma hederacea by examining the light-utilization characteristics of it including the rate and state of its growth under different light conditions. The results showed that, G. hederacea has the lower light compensation point, the higher light saturation point, the maximum apparent quantum efficiency, and the maximum net photosynthetic rate, which reflected that G. hederacea had a wider use range of effective light radiation and a stronger shade-tolerance ability. In stronger light conditions, G. hederacea grew faster and had longer stems, shorter internodes, also the ischolar_maining and branching situations were better compared with that in weaker light. However, this plant grew normally in weaker light, and invasion of weeds was less prominent with well-growth. Thus, G. hederacea, as a kind of shadeendurance groundcover plant, was also adaptable to the full-light environment and could be used in the plant practice of forest interplanting, playing an important role in ecological diversity and environment protection.