The study of vegetative phenology is important to understand adaptation to different environments and potential trade-offs with growth traits. Crown leaf-out and leaf-fall phenology was evaluated on 168 open-pollinated families from 19 Cedrela odorata provenances in an eleven-year-old provenance/progeny trial established in the state of Veracruz, Eastern coast of Mexico. The objectives were: (a) to evaluate the extent of inter- and intra-population genetic variation of leaf phenology traits; (b) to examine the relationship between leaf phenology traits and climate variables at the population level; (c) to estimate the genetic relationships between leaf phenology and growth traits; and (d) to evaluate the accuracy, in terms of genetic control, of using alternative methods to measure leaf phenology in broadleaf trees. The study revealed significant genetic variation in leaf phenology traits both among and within populations. Leaf-out traits showed higher genetic variation than leaf-fall traits. A moderate to large genetic differentiation among Cedrela odorata populations was found; Q_st values for leaf-out were 2–6 times higher than those for leaf-fall. Leaf-fall was primarily associated with mean annual temperature, while leaf-out and length of the leafless period were related to annual precipitation and the aridity index of the site of origin. Leaf phenology traits showed moderate to high genetic control (h²_i = 0.12–0.67; h²_f = 0.27–0.72). However, it was higher for leaf-out traits, so they might play a more important adaptive role. Genetic correlations between leaf phenology and growth traits allow selecting early flushing genotypes within populations to increase adaptation and growth, but caution should be taken when selecting among populations.

植物物候学的研究对于了解对不同环境的适应以及与生长性状的潜在权衡非常重要。对来自 19 个Cedrela odorata 的168 个开放授粉家庭的冠叶脱落和落叶物候进行了评估在墨西哥东海岸韦拉克鲁斯州建立的 11 年起源/后代试验中的出处。目标是： (a) 评估叶片物候性状的种群间和种群内遗传变异的程度；(b) 在种群层面检查叶片物候性状与气候变量之间的关系；(c) 估计叶片物候与生长性状之间的遗传关系；(d) 在遗传控制方面评估使用替代方法测量阔叶树叶片物候的准确性。该研究揭示了种群之间和种群内叶片物候性状的显着遗传变异。落叶性状比落叶性状表现出更高的遗传变异。Cedrela odorata中到大的遗传分化种群被发现；落叶的Q _st值比落叶的Q _st值高 2-6 倍。落叶主要与年平均气温有关，而落叶和无叶期的长度与年降水量和起源地的干旱指数有关。叶物候性状显示出中度至高度的遗传控制（h ² _i  = 0.12-0.67；h ² _f  = 0.27-0.72）。然而，叶出性状更高，因此它们可能发挥更重要的适应性作用。叶片物候和生长性状之间的遗传相关性允许在种群内选择早期潮红基因型以增加适应和生长，但在种群中选择时应谨慎。