Effects of Kinetin, Gibberellic Acid and Certain Auxins on the Development of Shoot Buds on the Protonema of Pohlia nutans

Abstract

DURING recent investigations1 on the effects of light of various wave-lengths on the development of the protonema and the formation of shoot buds in Pohlia nutans (Hedw.) Lindb., it was discovered that buds were formed only in light which included the red region of the spectrum. Furthermore, experiments on the supply of various concentrations of sucrose or glucose to the protonema suggested that the effect of red light was not merely a trophic one, but that a specific formative stimulus was probably involved. Since several authors have found that certain of the physiological responses of various flowering plants to kinetin or gibberellic acid are similar to those induced by red light, for example the expansion of leaf tissue and the onset of germination in certain dormant seeds, it seemed that it might be of interest to study the effects of these two physiologically active substances on the development of the protonema and the initiation of shoot buds in Pohlia nutans.