New Zealand Journal of Botany abstract
Germination behaviour of the seeds of four New Zealand species of
Coriaria (Coriariaceae)
C. J. BURROWS
Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand
Abstract Experiments were conducted to determine the
germination rates, percentage germination success, and phenomena related to
germination delay for two provenances each of freshly collected achenes of
Coriaria arborea, C. sarmentosa, C. angustissima,
and C. sp. cf. plumosa. These studies, carried out in an
unheated, partially shaded glasshouse in Christchurch, involved treatments to
simulate natural conditions that the seeds might experience after dispersal
(well-lit; in the dark; in the fleshy false fruit tissues; after dry storage;
on soil).
In the standard (cleaned, moist, well-lit) treatment, all seeds of C.
arborea germinated rapidly, in summer. Some C. sarmentosa seeds also
germinated rapidly in summer, but in one provenance a few seeds remained
dormant until autumn or the following spring, and the success was slightly
lower. Germination of C. angustissima and C. sp. cf.
plumosa seeds was usually slow in late summer and autumn, halted in
winter, and was completed in spring, with 90% - 100% success in all except one
of the C. sp. cf. plumosa provenances. A few seeds of this set
germinated in late summer, but many remained dormant until spring. The specific
differences in germination pattern are consistent with the habitat conditions
in which the respective species live.
For C. arborea the dark, in-fruit, dry, and soil treatment seeds each
germinated more slowly than for the standard treatment; total germination was
more than 90%. Seeds of the other three species in these three treatments also
germinated more slowly than those in the standard treatment, usually with much
lower total success. Overwinter delay of germination of some seeds of C.
sarmentosa, C. angustissima, and C. sp. cf.
plumosa appears to be determined by biochemical blocking (true
dormancy). In all cases but two, the tetrazolium test indicated that seed
viability was less than 90%. This was substantially lower than the actual
germination success in the standard treatment.
Keywords Coriaria arborea; C. sarmentosa; C.
angustissima; C. sp. cf. plumosa; achenes; false fruit;
germination; high success; delay
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1995, Vol. 33: 265-275
0028-825X/95/3302-0265 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1995
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (489K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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