Unusual seed germination

[Jim McClements, Dover, DE z6]

Maybe some of you have experienced this, but I don't think I ever have.

I colllected seed of A. kiushianum in November, cleaned and soaked them in
detergent solution overnight, rinsed and put them in a damp paper towel on
11-28.

By 12-16 many had radicles developing, so   planted all (about 60) in a pot
of compost (Biocomp) and put them under lights. Usually this leads to many
sprouting seedlings in a short time.

However, yesterday (2-6), having not seen any sign of seedlings sprouting, I
dug around in the pot and found at least 24 "tuberets", most without rootlets,
all firm and healthy-appearing.

It appears that the first stage of growth had been subterranean, and that the
tubers were what I usually find after a few months of seedling existence. I
replanted them in the pot, put it back into the plastic bag and refrigerated
it. I'll take them out in 2-3 months and see what happens.

As I said above, I have never seen this with any arisaema species previously,
and I have been using the same method for many years. However, I have NOT had
A. kiushianum seeds previously, so perhaps it is a species characteristic.

Any comments?

Jim



Jim McClements
50 S. Prestwick Ct.
Dover, Delaware 19904, USA
Zone 7a
302-734-2836
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.science.uu.nl/pipermail/arisaema-l/attachments/20060207/cee0d2b2/attachment.html