RE: [The Seed Exchange] - Scarifying seeds with a dremel tool
- To: "'K*@aol.com'"
- Subject: RE: [The Seed Exchange] - Scarifying seeds with a dremel tool
- From: R* R*
- Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 08:10:33 +0800
I can't confirm that story Kurt
but it is quite possible.
The gut of birds is extremely abrasive
quite often they have small stones or rocks
deliberately ingested to help break up food
It is commonly acknowledged that many bird spp.
help spread seed that are better able to germinate
after passing through their gut.
This enhanced germination is also apparent after
seed has passed through the gut of many ruminants
as well.
Rod
> ----------
> From: K1MIZE@aol.com
> Reply To: K1MIZE@aol.com
> Sent: Saturday, 28 August 1999 4:44 AM
> To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Subject: Re: [The Seed Exchange] - Scarifying seeds with a dremel
> tool
>
> This is off subject a bit, but I seem to remember reading somewhere about
> an
> endangered tree species on the island of Mauritius. It was not
> reproducing
> at all, in the wild. In attempting to propagate it, they discovered that
> its
> seeds have a particularly thick coat that has to be filed down with a rasp
>
> before they are able to germinate. As the youngest remaining specimens of
>
> the tree in the wild date to around the time of the extinction of the
> Dodo,
> it is believed that the tree evolved along with, and was dependent upon,
> the
> Dodo. The Dodo's digestive system apparently provided the "scarifying"
> that
> the seeds needed in order to germinate. Has anyone else heard this story,
> or
> is it just a myth?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Kurt Mize
> Stockton, California
> A very HOT and smoggy USDA Zone 9
>
