CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - Pole Shift Survival Information

If seeds are buried in the grouncl and exposed to the action
of frost, the period of dornianr*y is usually com&%ddy red
Wd. Thus Pam mr4 nntl King ribport ( I’IYW. Iowa Acad.
Sci. xl-) cxpcrinWnt s by I1’awcett showing that “ the dormant
period of common pigweed (A Iuwfwtu~s ~Yrf$le.r0s) wa3 nine and
one-third da>-s when kept in pa,ckages in a dry room, a,nd only
six and one-t.hird days after having been wintered out of doors.
In the case of wild rye, the dormant. period was lessened from
nine to five days . . . while the percentage of germination
was increased from 22 per cent to 48 per cent,, and, the pigweed
from 40 per rent to 50 per cent. In geneA, the longest dormant
period was found in those seeds which have the hardest
and thickest. coats.‘?
The better germination of some kinds of seeds after being
subjected to freezing is t.he result of the cracking of the shell
and the letting in of moisture, rat,her than the lessening of an
inherent dormancy ; perhaps this is always the explanation.
Plant-growers resort extensively to the burying of nuts and
hard-shelled seeds to insure germination. They also file or
notch certain seeds, as those of the moonflowers, to allow water
to enter and to start the germina,tion processes, taking care, of
course, not to injure the embryo.
How long germination may be delayed and the seeds still
remain Gable (or germinable) depends on the kind of plant
more than on the conditions of storage. The longevity of
seeds, in other words, is largely an hereditary trait lying probably
in the anatomy and cl1emica.l constitution, In this realm,
new experiments are needed on a considerable scale, reinforced
by the modern understanding of the physiological processes.
The stories of live seeds being taken from the mummies of
ancient Egypt are not credible ; these statements have often
been exposed. Yet certain seeds may outlive a human life.
I’ammel and King report the following table from Ewart, of
Victoria (Australia), on certain rather remarkable longevities :