Seed Dormancy in Nymphaeaceae

The Nymphaeaceae is a popular water garden plant, yet only a few scientific studies have been done on its seed donnancy and gennination (Baskin and Baskin, 1998). Questions asked in this proposal are: (1) Are fresh seeds nondonnant (do not require pretreatment to germinate) or donnant (require pretreatment to genninate)? (2) If seeds are nondonnant, what are the best conditions for gennination? (3) If seeds are dormant, what kind of dormancy do they have, and how is it broken? This project is part of our long-term research on classification, biogeography, and evolution of seed donnancy (Baskin and Baskin, 1998, 2003, 2004). SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT At maturity, seeds of gymnospenns and angiospenns are either nondormant or domnnt. In angiosperms, five kinds (classes) of seed donnancy are recognized (Table I); all of these except