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Re: germination of Helleborus

Date:  Fri, 14 Jun 1996 23:47:14 -0400
    From: "Ernie O'Byrne, Eugene OR zone 7a" <ErnieOB@AOL.COM>


>Iza Goroff wrote
>>According to Norm Deno, "Seed Germination Theory and Practice", 2nd ed. ,
>>1993, all helleborus require a warm period (Deno used 3 months at 700 F,
>>i.e. room temperature) followed by a cold treatment (400). He states that
>>dry storage was fatal. Maybe your stored seed didn't have a chance to
>>desicate.

>In a message dated 96-06-14 17:13:54 EDT, Ian Black writes:

>I don't think that it's absolutely true that desiccating Hellebore seeds is
>100% fatal.  Rather, it seems to put them into a state of deep dormancy that
>can require several seasons to recover from.  I've just germinated some seed
>of H. vesicarius that had been hot and dry for 6 months before sowing.  It
>took several years to germinate (two or three if my memory serves me right).
>If the seed came from a choice plant, don't give up on it for at least this
>period of time.

Helleborus vesicarius is not a very good test case, however, coming, as
it
does, from scrubby hillsides in the hot dry summer areas of Turkey and
Syria.
But, I also agree with the main point that germination of hellebore seed
is
possible from old seed, although almost always delayed. We have had
germination of old seed, but it has been very sparse compared with
fresh,
even holding the pots for several years (we keep them through the spring
of
the third year). The other candidate for germination from dry stored
seed,
would be Helleborus lividus, coming from Majorca, but from the
description of
habitat, it sounds as if it must grow in much damper sites than H.
vesicarius, but it is a mediterranean climate and may dry out. Does
anyone
have first-hand experience with seeing it in habitat?

We have collected seed from the one pot of H. lividus we have, but
planted it
all immediately, as most of the flowering stems withered without
producing
seed. Now we shall see what it means when they say that H. argutifolius
should "not be around to cross-pollinate and give you H. sternii
instead." Is
a hundred feet far enough away? That is not very far for a bee.

Ernie O'Byrne, Eugene, OR Zone 7a, too cold for Helleborus lividus
-- 
Duncan McAlpine, Federal Way, WA
Why buy plants when you can grow them yourself.....?
http://www.eskimo.com/~mcalpin/
http://www.eskimo.com/~mcalpin/pumkin.html
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