Abstract: Aims In nature, the non-resource and resource environment conditions essential for plant growth are heterogeneously distributed, and such heterogeneity is ubiquitous. Clonal plants have evolved various strategies such as physiological integration and clonal morphological plasticity to deal with environmental heterogeneity, but the role of the resource storage capacity has been scarcely studied. Methods Here, we buried rhizome fragments of different lengths (0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cm), each containing one bud-bearing node, in pots filled with local soil, and recorded the sprouting status of the rhizomatous buds and the emergence and growth of the bud-forming clonal ramets. Important findings The bud sprouting rate and the emergence, establishment, weight of newly produced clonal ramets increased with increasing length of the initial rhizome fragments, but only those clonal ramets forming on the rhizome fragments of 4 and 5 cm long could establish (i.e., grow to a self-sustaining state). These results suggest that storage of resources is an important strategy for clonal plants to deal with environmental changes and disturbances, and thus is of great significance for their growth and propagation. Additionally, our findings are potentially useful for restoring degraded grassland and for promoting grassland production and sustainability.

Key words: rhizome length, rhizome buds, bud sprouting rate, emergence rate, establishment rate