Ask A Scientist© Botany Archive

name       john
status     other
age        40s

Question - Plants from seed...
someone told me that some seeds must pass through an animal
or bird before they can be germinated. Is this true?
If so, Can this process be imitated?
I'm mainly interested in evergreens.
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Seeds of some plant species need to undergo various kinds of treatments
(such as stratification and scarring) before germination.
Yes, there are various methods to imitate natural processes.
Here's one page that might help and try searching www.google.com for more
info on your particular plant seeds and contact your local agricultural
extension office for more info.
http://www.anet.com/~manytimes/page38.htm

Sincerely,

Anthony R. Brach, Ph.D.
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This theory is easily disproved.
You can collect seeds from any garden plant or roadside weed and conduct
your own experiment. You will likely find that even those seeds collected
right from the plant and then planted in soil will germinate without having
to pass through an animal (or bird).

Note that it is likely not every seed will germinate, but this is due to the
fact that of a given collection of seeds, there is a proportion which are in
fact dead and will never germinate.

In the case of evergreens, you can consult a good dendrology text for the
particular species you wish to cultivate. You can improve germination
results for certain tree species seeds by environmental treatment...the
specifics, if any, for the species you are interested in will be described
in the text. These involve primarily heat or cold and/or moisture
treatments.

If you have specific germination questions involving particular species,
please submit a question listing the specifics.

Thanks for using NEWTON!

Ric Rupnik
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