7. 关于植物种子储存
关于种子存储多久,来自《Wild lithops 》的文字:
Seeds can be stored for many years,with experi ments having shown a germination rate of 80% af ter 13 years in storage,and viability having been re-corded for a period of up to 25 years for dry seeds.A dramatic decrease in the viability of stored capsules was reported after 13 years(du Ploy,1994).If the seeds are kept dry,and this is especially true of those species from more arid areas(e.g.L.optica,L.gracili-delineata),Lithops seeds"may be viable for even long-er periods,perhaps 20 or 25 years,or more”(Cole& Cole,2005).Fearn(1977b)studied the viability of Lithops seed over ten years and concluded that smaller seeds lose viability faster than bigger seeds.Taxa with larger seeds thus gain a survival advantage by enabling a given population to re-establish them-selves long after all the adult plants have died-in ef-fect a natural seed bank(Smith,2015a).This explains how colonies can disappear for many years but then suddenly re-appear following good rains.