plants Article Seed Dormancy Breaking and Germination in Bituminaria basaltica and B. bituminosa (Fabaceae) Francesca Carruggio 1 , Andrea Onofri 2 , Carmen Impelluso 1, Gianpietro Giusso del Galdo 3, Giovanni Scopece 4 and Antonia Cristaudo 1,* 1 Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Germplasm Bank (BGS-CT), University of Catania, 95128 Catania, Italy;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +39-366-1842748 Received: 28 July 2020; Accepted: 25 August 2020; Published: 27 August 2020 Abstract: Most legumes are well-known for the physical dormancy of their seeds; hence, the implementation of appropriate scarification techniques is essential for introducing new legume crops within agricultural systems. This study investigated morpho-anatomical traits and dormancy-breaking requirements in two taxa of the genus Bituminaria: the widespread B. bituminosa and the point endemic B. basaltica. As the species under investigation show monospermic indehiscent legumes, pods were used in this research. We performed pod trait measurements, light microscopy observations on the seed coat anatomical structure, and germination tests after mechanical, thermal, and chemical scarification treatments for seed dormancy breaking. Moreover, germination performance at different pod maturity stages and storage times was tested. Differences in morpho-anatomical traits were found, with B.