Re: Germinating seeds

Barry Meyers-Rice (barry@as.arizona.edu)
Tue, 9 Mar 93 09:29:18 MST

Spring in the desert---so nice. This weekend as usual the missus and
I went on a hike and as we trotted along a seasonal river among the
Saguaro cacti Bridgett said something that made me freeze in my tracks:

``Hey Barry, isn't that a CP growing in the water?''

I give her credit, a rosette of _Mimulus_, with its yellow _Utric_
style flower growing out of the water can mimic a CP pretty well.
Alas, a CP it wasn't. It took a while for the adrenaline to leave the
system, though.

As it is, the only CP for hundreds of miles are the _Capsella_ which
are all over the place. Weeds!

Don:

A good bit of detective work on Kondo. You consistently amaze me with
your networking acumen. I called up the Australian Botanical gardens
using the method you indicated and looked at their on-line list of
Australian flora. For their listings of _Lentibulariaceae_ it looks like
they are up to date as far as Taylor's monograph, but in the genus _Drosera_
they do not have any of the contributions from Lowrie et al. I didn't
see much that was worth my keeping. Lots of fun poking around, though.

Seosamh:

_Sarracenia_ seeds are trivial to germinate. Cold wet storage is standard
procedure, as you read. It is a common mistake for people to store their
seeds dry in the fridge and to think they are giving their plants the
same treatment. They are not---moisture is essential (but cold dry treatment
enhances the shelf-life of dormant seeds). When my wife was off at school
the last two years and I had complete control over the fridge I planted
the seeds in pots and stored the pots in the bottom shelf. With my
wife back I've mixed the seeds with a bit of moist peat and stored the
bags more compactly. I store mine over the winter for a few months but
a shorter time will probably be fine---they just may sit dormant for a
few weeks more after you take them from the fridge anyway.

Clarke's suggestion that you put them in the freezer for a few weeks
is frightening to me (except maybe for _S.purpurea purpurea_). These
plants are from the SouthEast U.S. and such weather extremes are not
normal, and possibly even detrimental to the seeds. But he's getting
germination too...

>(in the west of Ireland: more sphagnum moss than you can eat!)

Heh heh heh. Maybe when I get home tonight I'll see how much I can
eat so I know what you mean. :)

BAMR