Hello to all who are (or will be) attempting to germinate D.meristocaulis!! I'd like to ask for all your help in a very important scientific study of this species.
In 1997 Conran et al published a cool paper entitled "Droseraceae germination patterns and their taxonomic significance". They showed that there is a lot of taxonomic information that can be obtained by observing the germination of Drosera seeds.
Therefore, it would be extremely interesting to register the initial stages of D.meristocaulis germination. These are the characteristics to observe:
1.) Do cotyledons emerge from the seed testa? There are 3 types:
-- Phanerocotylar - cotyledons emerge fully from the seed (known from D.burmannii, D.binata, D.hamiltonii, D.indica, most New World, African, & north temperate Drosera spp.)
-- Hemicryptocotylar - cotyledons partially emerge from the seed and photosynthetic (only known from D.adelae among Drosera)
-- Cryptocotylar - cotyledons remain largely enclosed withing seed (known from tuberous & pygmy Drosera, the petiolaris-complex, D.glanduligera, and I suspect D.meristocaulis too)
2.) Do the cotyledons have sessile glands? Numerous taxa from subgen Drosera are known to have them, but I'd guess D.meristocaulis doesn't.
3.) Are the first leaves reduced, non-carnivorous and generally prophyllar? This characteristic is known from erect tuberous species of sect.Ergaleium and is probably not the case of D.meristocaulis.
4.) Are all the leaves alternate or is the first pair (or initial pairs) opposite and the rest alternate? It is not clear in the paper which species have this character. On table 1 only one species from section Arachnopus (as well as Drosophyllum) is said to have opposite first leaves, but below this table on page 215 it is written: "First leaves were alternative in all taxa
except Drosophyllum, and non-carnivorous first leaves confined to Aldrovanda and a few taxa within sect.Ergaleium."
5.) What was the minimum number of days to first germination? The longest times to germination were registered for tuberous & pygmy species and those of section Ptycnostygma (cistiflora, pauciflora, etc.), with mean values of 90-174 days (probably reflecting the summer dormancy habits of these taxa).Most of the remaining taxa varied from 10-40 days, which seems to be the case for D.meristocaulis. But please register, if possible, the number of days to first germination for D.meristocaulis and we'll average them out
afterwards.
Thanks to all!!
Fernando Rivadavia
P.S. If any of you have doubts in relation to complicated terms I used or anything else written above, please don't be shy to ask!!!
In 1997 Conran et al published a cool paper entitled "Droseraceae germination patterns and their taxonomic significance". They showed that there is a lot of taxonomic information that can be obtained by observing the germination of Drosera seeds.
Therefore, it would be extremely interesting to register the initial stages of D.meristocaulis germination. These are the characteristics to observe:
1.) Do cotyledons emerge from the seed testa? There are 3 types:
-- Phanerocotylar - cotyledons emerge fully from the seed (known from D.burmannii, D.binata, D.hamiltonii, D.indica, most New World, African, & north temperate Drosera spp.)
-- Hemicryptocotylar - cotyledons partially emerge from the seed and photosynthetic (only known from D.adelae among Drosera)
-- Cryptocotylar - cotyledons remain largely enclosed withing seed (known from tuberous & pygmy Drosera, the petiolaris-complex, D.glanduligera, and I suspect D.meristocaulis too)
2.) Do the cotyledons have sessile glands? Numerous taxa from subgen Drosera are known to have them, but I'd guess D.meristocaulis doesn't.
3.) Are the first leaves reduced, non-carnivorous and generally prophyllar? This characteristic is known from erect tuberous species of sect.Ergaleium and is probably not the case of D.meristocaulis.
4.) Are all the leaves alternate or is the first pair (or initial pairs) opposite and the rest alternate? It is not clear in the paper which species have this character. On table 1 only one species from section Arachnopus (as well as Drosophyllum) is said to have opposite first leaves, but below this table on page 215 it is written: "First leaves were alternative in all taxa
except Drosophyllum, and non-carnivorous first leaves confined to Aldrovanda and a few taxa within sect.Ergaleium."
5.) What was the minimum number of days to first germination? The longest times to germination were registered for tuberous & pygmy species and those of section Ptycnostygma (cistiflora, pauciflora, etc.), with mean values of 90-174 days (probably reflecting the summer dormancy habits of these taxa).Most of the remaining taxa varied from 10-40 days, which seems to be the case for D.meristocaulis. But please register, if possible, the number of days to first germination for D.meristocaulis and we'll average them out
afterwards.
Thanks to all!!
Fernando Rivadavia
P.S. If any of you have doubts in relation to complicated terms I used or anything else written above, please don't be shy to ask!!!