Absorption of 2,4-D [(2,4-dichlorophenoxy) acetic acid], dicamba [3,6-dichloro-o-anisic acid], and the isopropylamine salt of glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine] by excised honeyvine milkweed [Cynanchum laeve (Michx.) Pers.] leaves was determined. Experimental variables included leaf position (terminal vs. basal), a surfactant, 4-isopropenyl-1-methylcyclohexane plus unspecified emulsifiers (SA-77), and leaf collection dates. Absorption of the three herbicides by terminal and basal leaves was increased by the addition of the surfactant. However, the surfactant increased absorption into basal leaves more than into terminal leaves. The surfactant reduced surface tension and increased drying time of water droplets on adaxial leaf surfaces by 50%. The pH of the herbicide solutions was reduced from about 5.8 to about 3.9 by SA-77. Absorption of all three herbicides was greater into terminal than into basal leaves when the surfactant was not present, but the difference disappeared when the surfactant was added. Generally, no differences were observed in the absorption of 2,4-D and dicamba. Glyphosate absorption was greater in terminal leaves collected after a period of adequate moisture than after a period of dry soil conditions.

Laboratory and field experiments were conducted to describe the root system of honeyvine milkweed [Cynanchum laeve (Michx.) Pers.], and to study factors affecting the growth of plants from root fragments of shallow, ascending roots. The root system of a typical plant was composed of lateral roots radiating from a sparsely-branched, vertical taproot. Laterals tended to concentrate in a boundary area between a loamy surface soil and a zone of clay accumulation, this boundary area being below the zone of cultivation. Vertical taproots were found to a depth of 2 m, with sections collected at this and shallower depths demonstrating the ability to produce aerial shoots. In laboratory studies, root sections were killed either by freezing for 2 h or by drying at either 20 or 30 C for 24 h. The optimum temperature for shoot development from root sections was between 20 and 30 C. Shoot emergence and growth from buried root sections were generally unaffected by either depth of planting or root length. As many as 45 daughter shoots were produced from a single plant originating from seed, and 27 daughter shoots were developed from a root section 131 days after planting. The maximum distance daughter shoots were observed from original plants 131 days after planting was 111 cm.

An experiment was initiated in 1970 and continued through 1979 by exhuming and germinating seed of 12 economic weed species buried beneath 23 cm of soil in eastern and western Nebraska. Loss in germination of exhumed seeds over years is mathematically characterized by the formula for the rectangular hyperbola, which represents many shapes of curves that have zero as their lower limit. Of the 12 weed species, only fall panicum (Panicum dichotomiflorum Michx.) and redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) seed germination did not drop significantly over the 10-yr burial period. Germination of redroot pigweed seed was higher when buried in eastern Nebraska, but was higher for smooth groundcherry (Physalis subglabrata Mack&Bush.) and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medic.) when buried in western Nebraska. Germination of the other nine species were not affected by burial location. The 12 weed species can be ranked as those showing most to least rapid loss of germination during burial for 10 yr as follows: honeyvine milkweed [Ampelamus albidus (Nutt.) Britt.], hemp dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum L.), kochia [Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad.], sunflower (Helianthus annum L.), large crabgrass [Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop.], common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.), musk thistle (Carduus nutans L.), velvetleaf, fall panicum, redroot pigweed, green foxtail [Setaria viridis (L.) Beauv.], and smooth groundcherry.