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Ongoing domestication of whole‐leaf rosinweed, Silphium integrifoliumMichx., as a perennial oilseed and forage crop aims to increase yields while limiting decreases in other desirable traits (i.e., trade‐offs). Two changes to plant architecture, increasing pistillate ray florets head−1( = feminization) and reduced lateral branching of stems, have been considered for their potential to improve oil yields but with limited understanding of potential trade‐offs. Field tests with genets that vary for feminization failed to show that increasing the number of female florets head−1had any effect on pollinator visitation and seed set (%) but revealed that feminization reduced embryo mass achene−1. In general, tripling the number of ray florets head−1reduced the mass of individual embryos by 50% or more, which suggests feminization still provides a net benefit for oil yields. Clipping (bud removal) used to simulate reduced branching in S. integrifoliumaffected components of yield in ways that were generally predictable; heads (receptacles) became larger and mass achene−1increased. However, the large number of buds removed to achieve modest increases in head size and achene mass make reduced branching appear undesirable. Ultimately, S. integrifoliumgenets with genetically reduced branching are needed to make the best evaluation of this potential change. Both sets of experiments reveal plasticity in S. integrifoliumyield components and suggest that efforts to improve the quality of phenotypic data are important to efficient selection. Silphium integrifoliumgenets with ≈30–90 female florets head−1did not vary in seed set (%).Genets with more female florets had lighter embryos, but still improved yields head−1.Bud removal used to simulate reduced branching increased mass achene−1by almost one‐third.The number of buds removed to increase achene mass makes reduced branching appear undesirable.Achene mass (or embryo mass) and receptacle diameter are plastic traits in S. integrifolium.

Beyond the trauma of my accident, I was suddenly met with an onslaught of disability microaggressions. I still felt that fire of my sex drive exactly the same as before - but pleasure, orgasm and sexiness seemed out of reach. [Extracted from the article]