THE GERMINATION AND VIABILITY OF FESTUCA VIVIPARA (L.) SM. PLANTLETS

Abstract

SUMMARY Festuca vivipara plantlets were collected from a site in the English Lake District at several dates during the summer and autumn 1976. Various germination tests showed that plantlets from the early harvests were non‐viable. Viability increased towards the end of the growing season and, at the last harvest, approximately 90% of the plantlets were capable of germinating. Plantlets showed no innate dormancy. However, the majority of plantlets were not dehisced from the panicle and establishment was largely through the collapse of the culm. Seeds of the closely related species, F. ovina, dehisced in July and exhibited a low primary dormancy. This could be broken by stratification and was lost after 2‐3 months dry storage. Plantlets retained a greater capacity than seed to germinate at low temperature (3°C) and field observations show that F. vivipara plantlets establish after culm collapse in the autumn whereas F. ovina seeds may not germinate until the following spring. However, plantlets were capable of surviving for at least 25 weeks in conditions of high relative humidity and low temperature in the laboratory, suggesting that they have the capacity to survive the winter if they do not reach a suitable substrate for establishment.