J. For. Sci., 2019, 65(6):203-208 | DOI: 10.17221/43/2019-JFS

The effect of the Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.) Buchholz cone crystals on germinationOriginal Paper

Hana Prknová*
Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

The cones of the giant sequoia contain red, water-soluble crystalline substances known as cone crystals. The inhibitory effect of this extracted material on Norway spruce, Scots pine and European larch germination was newly examined. Sown seed representative samples without and with added cone crystals were compared after their incubation in the same appropriate conditions. All these cases have brought compelling evidence that cone crystals totally inhibit germination. However, the chemically inhibited seeds being rinsed afterwards germinated very well. This switch effect caused by the cone crystals of the three above-mentioned conifers proved to be a nonspecific tool. Seeds of the giant sequoia, naturally affected by the cone crystals, were sown as rinsed and non-rinsed samples. Both the samples, grown on a wet peat substrate in appropriate conditions for 16 weeks, exhibited an equal, yet very low viability of 1.3% at the same time. This low number, fixed in seeds of the tree being far from the ecological optimum, does not allow any disputation with other authors.

Keywords: cone pigment; giant sequoia; inhibitory effect; tannin

Published: June 30, 2019  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Prknová H. The effect of the Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.) Buchholz cone crystals on germination. J. For. Sci. 2019;65(6):203-208. doi: 10.17221/43/2019-JFS.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Beidleman R.G. (1950): Sequoia cones and seeds. Yosemite Nature Notes, 29: 9-11.
    2. Buchholz J.T. (1938): Cone formation in Sequoia gigantea. I. The relation of stem size and tissue development to cone formation. II. The history of the seed cone. American Journal of Botany, 25: 296-305. Go to original source...
    3. Fry W., White J.R. (1930): Big Trees. California, Stanford University Press: 114.
    4. Hartesveldt R.J., Harvey H.T., Shellhammer H.S., Stecker R.E. (1975): The Giant Sequoia of the Sierra Nevada. Washington, D.C., National Park Service: 180.
    5. Harvey H.T., Shellhammer H.S., Stecker R.E. (1980): Giant Sequoia Ecology. Fire and Reproduction. Washington, D.C., National Park Service: 182.
    6. Kritchevsky G., Anderson A.B. (1955): Chemistry of the genus Sequoia. I. The cone solid of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and giant sequoia (Sequoia gigantea). The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 20: 1402-1406. Go to original source...
    7. Martin E. (1958): Die Sequoien und ihre Anzucht. Deutsche Dendrologische Gesellschaft Jahrbuch, 60: 3-57.
    8. Pilát A. (1964): Jehličnaté stromy a keře našich zahrad a parků. Praha, Československá akademie věd: 508. (in Czech)
    9. Pospíšil P. (2017): Inventarizace sekvojovce obrovského v České republice. [Bachelor Thesis.] Prague, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague: 68. (in Czech)
    10. Prknová H. (2018): Contribution to seed ecology of Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.) Buchholz growing in the Central European conditions. Journal of Forest Science, 64: 86-90. Go to original source...
    11. Stark N. (1968): Seed ecology of Sequoiadendron giganteum. Madroño, 19: 267-277.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content