X-Nico

3 unusual facts about germination


Darlingtonia californica

Growing cobra lilies from seed is extremely slow and cobra seedlings are difficult to maintain, so these plants are best propagated from the long stolons they grow in late winter and spring.

Drosera capillaris

Germination occurs throughout the fall, and germination time varies over a matter of months.

Heterobasidiomycetes

In addition to having septate basidia, heterobasidiomycetes also frequently possess large irregularly shaped sterigmata and spores that are capable of self-replication - a process where a spore, instead of germinating into a vegetative hypha, gives rise to a sterigma and a new spore, which is then discharged as if from a normal basidium.


Agnes Ibbetson

Between 1809 and 1822 Mrs. Ibbetson contributed more than fifty papers to Nicholson's Journal and the Philosophical Magazine on the microscopic structure and physiology of plants, including such subjects as air-vessels, pollen, perspiration, sleep, winter-buds, grafting, impregnation, germination, and the Jussieuean method.

Ceanothus cuneatus

Harvester ants have been known to cache the seeds, which can lie dormant for a long time since fire is required for germination.

Chili oil

(Warning: if garlic is used, the shelf life is significantly shortened because the anaerobic conditions in the oil can lead to germination of Clostridium botulinum, found naturally in soil, which could then lead to botulism in the consumers of the chili oil.)

Mimosa tenuiflora

Scarification of the seed via mechanical means or by using sulfuric acid greatly increases the germination rate of the seeds over non-treatment.

Rhizosphere

Strigolactones, secreted and detected by mycorhizal fungi, stimulate the germination of spores and initiate changes in the mycorhiza that allow it to colonize the root.

Yuli Berkovich

Yuli Berkovich (1944 - 2012) was a scientist who has performed experiments with seed germination in zero gravity, among others, upon the International Space Station.


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