Second Supplement to Seed Germination Theory And
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OK 740 D46 1993 Sup 2 SECOND SUPPLEMENT TO SEED GERMINATION THEORY AND PRACTICE Published and distributed by Norman C. Deno 139 Lenor Drive, State College PA 16801 (First Printing January 1, 1998) Every species has some mechanism for delaying germination until after the seed has been dispersed. The Science of Seed Germination is the discovery and description of such mechanisms and the development of procedures for removing them so that the seeds can germinate. A REQUSITE CONDITIONING TREATMENT CANNOT BE A PERIOD OF DORMANCY FROM A CHEMICAL VIEWPOINT Fo Plant a Seed Is a Noble Deed, Propagation Is Conservation "When the World Wearies and Ceases to Satisfy, There's Always the Garden." Rudyard Kipling I. SECOND SUPPLEMENT TO SEED GERMINATION I. THEORY AND PRACTICE Published and distributed by Norman C. Deno 139 Lenor Drive, State College PA 16801 (First Printing January 1, 1998) i• Four people have made a special contribution to this book. Virginia M. Deno was my constant companion for fifty-two years (she died November .1996). Every idea was first described to her for consideration. Her scientific background in physics and medical technology and good sense provided a constant inspiration for refining and correcting my ideas. Even when she had no comment to make, explaining I. concepts to her was of value in defining them. Janet L. Deno and I were married in 1997. Janet has been of the greatest help in collecting seeds, managing our gardens, arranging the workplace, and obtaining information from Internet. Richard Craig (a noted Geranium breeder) called my attention to the work of r Henry Cathey. Lois Lutz (a noted lily breeder) called my attention to the work of Lela Barton. Many others have contributed by sending seeds, sending data from their own work, and contributing ideas Work of several workers has been included in the Data Section and their work acknowledged when used. All of the above contributions are gratefully acknowledged. I. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE, MEMORIES GENERAL COMMENTS pages 1-2 I. SPECIAL TOPICS DELAYED LIGHT EFFECTS, THREE NEW PATTERNS pages 2-3 DRY STORAGE EFFECTS ON GERMINATION page 3 LONG EXTENDED GERMINATIONS page 3 TIME OF COLLECTION OF SEEDS page 3 I. ARE TEMPERATURES ABOVE 70 P EFFECTIVE? pages .3-4 UPDATE ON GIBBERELLINS pages 4-5 UPDATE IMPERVIOUS SEED COATS page 5 DATA FROM COMMERCIAL GROWERS page 5 LOW TEMPERATURE METABOLISM IN PLANTS page 5 STORAGE OF SEEDS pages 6-8 i. DATA ARRANGED BY GENERA pages 9-68 CACTACEAE pages 69-71 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL SPECIES STUDIED pages 72-81 ALPHABETICAL LISTS OF COMMON NAMES pages 82-100 ADDLEK104AVOKINUMNSTIOF SEEDS page 101 page 101 AUG 2D2 0 S • e• , g .: t £ 11 , ç PREFACE, MEMORIES Page 1 Preface Possibly this section on memories will add a personal touch. At the age of four I S had my tonsils and adenoids removed. Immediately following I was stricken with severe asthma. This limited my activities so it was natural to turn to observing nature and identifying plants and all wild life. At the age of eight a small plot was given to me for growing wild flowers. Even today seventy years later I have a vivid picture of two jack-in-the-pulpits growing two feet high. My Mother had a garden and the two of us spent many happy hours planting and weeding. The great depression in 1930 brought a crisis to our family. Suffice to say we moved to a cheaper house and for several years lived on rice and potatoes. I have often thought that if the children of today could experience some real fear and deprivation, they would not be so quick to turn to drugs and alcohol. They would start thinking about a career from the age of eight and dedicate themselves to it. As it is a child raised in comfort and affluence will not want to leave childhood and will find himself or herself grown up physically but not mentally or emotionally. My Mother had organized a garden club. At the age of thirteen she had me give the program on raising lilies from seeds. Amazingly I was able to bring stems of LIlium centifolium and Lilium regale raised from seed and in full flower. Neither of my parents had gone to college, and my Mother had been taken out of high school her second year to help her Mother run a poverty stricken rooming house on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. To their eternal credit they were dedicated to seeing that their two sons went to college and had a good primary education. To accomplish this they moved to Wilmette, Illinois, which had an excellent school system and the high school, New Trier, was like a college. Four years at the University of Illinois, six years at the University of Michigan, and two years at Ohio State University brought me in contact with some of the great scientific minds and great researchers and great teachers. Miss Wyman in grammar school and Miss Walker in high school were outstanding. Miss Smith gave her heart 5 and soul to a course in public speaking. At Illinois Loomis (head of physics), Carl Marvel (a pioneer in polymer chemistry), and William Rose (who founded the concept of essential amino acids) were the unforgetable. At Michigan George Uhlenbeck (who received the Noble Prize in Physics with Goudsmit for the electron spin quantum numbers) gave a memorable course in the foundations of chemical rate theory. Much S of the chemical rate theory in my work on seed germination originates from this. At Ohio State Mel Newman was not only a great teacher and researcher, but he was dedicated to seeing his students be successful. When the department head at Penn State asked him for recommendations, he wrote Bob Taft and Norm Deno. When a return reply asked him which one should he take, he wrote back "take them both you fool? That was Mel. When he got my first report, he called me in and said, Where in hell did you learn to write? I promptly asked him, "teach me." My career in chemistry was most successful, but time was found for the hobby of growing plants. I joined the American Lily Society, the Nortii.SrrericanJock-Garden--1 Club, the Alpine Garden Society, and the Scottish Rock Grd S many wonderful times in the meetings and field trips of th4e some of the following anecdotes will amuse you or warm your heart. r I I UJO . page 2 Preface • One night in Seattle we were on our own for dinner. A group of ten of us decided to look through the phone book and find the restaurant with the craziest name. The Hog's Breath was an easy winner. On entering there were no customers despite the fairly spacious two rooms and a bar. A bartender was industriously polishing glasses to relieve boredom. After bringing drinks the waiter took our dinner orders. It • did seem strange that there was not another customer in the establishment, and this strangeness grew as we waited in for the waiter to return. After about forty minutes the waiter finally reappeared and came to our table with much bowing. He said, "I must apologize, we cannot serve you dinner, our cook has fled." It was late in the evening that we arrived at a motel on the Eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains in Washington. Next morning the group of thirty was led a block• down the street to have breakfast at an establishment called Funky's. The menu was as crazy as the name Funky's, and It is too bad that a menu was not kept as a memento. The most memorable aspect of this eating place were the salads. These were in dishes on top of crushed ice in a bathtub, and the salad dressings were in bowls on ice in a toilet bowl: It was on this same trip that we ate sitting cross-legged on top Of a picnic table on the slopes of Mount Baker. The snow was up to within an inch of the table top. Morris Berd and I were walking up the entrance way to the Bouchard Gardens in Victoria. A small band was playing; and we stopped to listen. They asked if we would like them to play something. We stood gawking and open mouthed undoubtedly • looking stupid. The small audience broke into laughter when they said, "Ask us to play anything, if we don't know it we'll practice it for you.a One evening we came into the hotel early in the evening and the driver offered to drive us up to a night club in the mountains for a dollar a piece. We arrive at twilight, and there were still a few minutes of daylight. We ran over the hills like lambs just put S out to graze. Suddenly I gave a great shout. There were hundreds of Calochorus macrocephalus with their great lavender flowers everywhere. 1 .11h ought the visitors-from England would gO mad with delight. The visits to Claude Barr in South Dakota seem like yesterday in my mind. From his house there is no sign of man, no telephone poles or wires, no roads, only a dirt • trail winding over.the hill. He warned me to park out on the road if there had been rain as the dirt trail would be impassable. Fortunately it was always dry as this dirt trail was nearly a mile long. Claud&s only water was from the rare rain running off the roof. This meagre water was carefully stored and treasured in a cistern.