The thing about Sanguinaria

…is that the seeds can have two types of morphophysiological dormancy (after Baskin & Baskin):

  • In the first case the roots will emerge in late fall after a warm stratification and the shoots growth will begin in the following spring (= after cold stratification); deep simple epicotyl dormancy.

Sanguinaria canadensis: seeds sown in summer 2016 – complete germination April 2017

  • In the second case (said to occur in about 49% of seeds according to a study), the shoots growth will begin in the second spring after sowing; deep simple double dormancy.

Sanguinaria canadensis: seeds sown in late summer 2015 – complete germination in 2017

The lots of seeds shown were collected from different sites, and I wonder if this was also a decisive/only factor in displaying the different types of dormancy. It is well known that the germination dormancy traits have a genetic component.

Temperatures in the summer/winter may also have role; to be sure I will try to repeat the sowing with seeds of both populations/at the same time. It would be nice to know and collect seeds from certain populations knowing they will germinate in the first year after sowing.

Note: To be clear, for Sanguinaria we are only talking about fresh/or moist kept seeds.

 

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One picture: epicotyl dormancy
4 replies
  2. diversifolius
    diversifolius says:

    It’s good not to wait for me to do it, that’s for sure! :o
    although I had very good intentions; meanwhile I’ll provide here new info. More to come…

  4. diversifolius
    diversifolius says:

    It all started with wanting plants that are not offered by nurseries/garden centers; the selection is generally poor here comparing with Europe and even the US.
    Plus, growing from seeds there is better chance in case of difficult species to obtain a fit seedling that will love your garden conditions.

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