ABSTRACT
Chenopodium polyspermum L. is an annual herbaceous species from temperate regions having several stages of development depending on light, especially photoperiod. Flowering can be induced by a single long night so that this Chenopodium species is well suited to the experimental analysis of external factors and also of endogenous factors on floral morphogenesis. C. polyspermum grown in SD will flower early while the young plant has all the juvenile characteristics of a plantlet: this is typically a phenomenon of neoteny that can be induced experimentally. The degree of floral induction, expressed by the number of flowers formed, is proportional to the number of inductive cycles. Experiments with approach grafting have shown the possibility of transmission of the induced state; the induced plant “donor” should always be clearly larger in size than the “receptor” that is maintained in LD. C. polyspermum plants can flower very early, independently of photoperiod if the buds do not receive any influence from the roots.
