The peculiarities of the early stages of development of Chaerophyllym aureum L.—An alien umbelliferae species of the European Part of Russia

Abstract

This paper analyzes the secondary range and peculiarities of the early stages of development of Chaerophyllym aureum, an alien Umbelliferae species, which appeared in European Russia in the 20th century; one of the first herbaria (Moscow oblast) dates back to 1924. The species is most often found in the secondary range in anthropogenic habitats: near railways, on wastelands, more seldom in meadows and at edges of deciduous forests. In the regions represented by the herbaria, C. aureum is successively naturalized and creates stable self-supporting populations. It has a set of helio-mesomorphic structural features which permits it to take roots in relatively open moderately moist habitats and compete with aboriginal species. Such properties as the high rate of germination and significant polymorphism in morphology, size, and time of development of premature C. aureum individuals, which were revealed in this work, can promote the successful naturalization of the species in the secondary range.