Examine the oldest shoots collected with the core for the presence of more than one
flowering mark. Flower marks are identified as the scar (roughly circular in shape) left by the
flower peduncle, located in one side of the stem, generally in areas of locally increased stem
thickness. Determine the time interval in between flowering events, as the number of rhizome
segments in between the flower scars. Once a number (10 or more) of these estimates has
been derived, examine the resulting values and determine whether an approximate minimum
common divisor can be established for the sequence, which would correspond to the
minimum time interval, as the number of plastochrones, produced in between flowering
events, which should correspond to the number of plastochrones produced in a year
(Gallegos et al. 1992).