Physiological and ecological characteristics of Schefflera arboricola—a vertical greenery plant with different directions

Vertical greenery can increase green area by taking full advantages of the space，which has profound significance to urban ecological restoration and environmental beautification. Due to the influence of solar activity， there are certain differences in the micro-environment of vertical greening in different directions，and its physiological and ecological characteristics will also respond accordingly. In this study，the differences among growth， photosynthetic characteristics，chlorophyll fluorescence parameters，and leaf nutrient content of Schefflera arboricola in different directions were studied. The leaf mass per area of S. arboricola in north direction was relatively low，while its net photosynthetic rate（ 10.52 μmol/m2·s），stomatal conductance（ 0.22 mol/m2·s），transpiration rate（ 4.31 mmol/m2·s） and non-photochemical quenching（ 0.72） were the highest. The chlorophyll SPAD value（ 59.33）， chlorophyll fluorescence indexes，leaf mass per area（ 140.16 g/m2） and magnesium（ 3.86 g/kg） and sulphur content （4.98 g/kg） of S. arboricola in south direction were relatively high，with lower nitrogen（ 16.57 g/kg），phosphorus （0.95 g/kg） and calcium（ 15.15 g/kg） content，illustrating that its net photosynthetic rate（ 6.08 μmol/m2·s） was relatively high. Affected by stomatal limitation，the net photosynthetic rate of S. arboricola in west direction was the lowest. The results above indicated that north direction was the most suitable direction for S. arboricola growth，south direction took second place，whereas S. arboricola growth was poor in west direction，which can provide references for rational utilization of S. arboricola in vertical greenery.