Water content and reserve allocation patterns within the bulb of the perennial geophyte red squill (Liliaceae) in relation to the Mediterranean climate

Abstract

The patterns of water content and reserve allocation in the bulb parts of red squill ( Urginea maritima (L.) Baker) and the plant’s adaptive strategy to Mediterranean climate (Crete, Greece) were investigated. The different bulb parts serve varying ecological functions in terms of their resources and their importance for these functions. The basal plate is the active centre, developing one or two apical meristems and roots in autumn, as well as the flowering bud in late summer. The middle of the bulb (approximately the third bulb scale) stores the resources and the tunics (the outer covering structures) that provide mechanical defense. The water content and reserve allocation patterns synchronize the plant’s phenological development with the seasonality of the Mediterranean climate. The adaptive strategies are based on the development of a deciduous semisubterranean life form primarily for the avoidance of drought, herbivores, and other environmental hazards, as well as nutrient shortage. The presence of cells containing lipids, polysaccharides, raphides, water, mucilage, bufadienolides, the presence of sclerenchyma, the tightly packed epidermis, and the presence of the tunics facilitate this.