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Physical dormancy in the endemic Australian genus Stylobasium, a first report for the family Surianaceae (Fabales)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2007

Jerry M. Baskin*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225, USA
Carol C. Baskin
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225, USA Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0312, USA
Kingsley W. Dixon
Affiliation:
Plant Science Division, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, West Perth, WA 6005, Australia
*
Correspondence Fax: +1 859 257 1717 Email: jmbask0@uky.edu

Abstract

The intact germination unit [seed+endocarp, (‘seed’)] of the two species of the Australian endemic genus Stylobasium (Surianaceae, Fabales) is water impermeable. Thus, the seed does not imbibe water or germinate until the integrity of the endocarp, which contains an outer layer of palisade cells, is disrupted. In this study, intact seeds of S. australe and of S. spathulatum, incubated on a moist substrate (for up to 2 years), did not imbibe water, whereas those that were mechanically scarified (both species), or dipped in boiling water for 30 s (S. spathulatum), imbibed and germinated. Thus, seeds of Stylobasium species have physical dormancy (PY). This is the first report of PY in Surianaceae, making it only the sixteenth family of angiosperms (no gymnosperms) in which this class of seed dormancy has been identified.

Type
Short Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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