Ms. Nadilia Gomez:

The OPGC welcomed Ms. Nadilia Gomez (Picture), a graduate student of Dr. Neil Anderson from the University of Minnesota for a 2-week study program. Nadilia pursued seed germination studies with Gaura, an American native plant with great ornamental potential. Below are some of the results from her study.

Empty Fruit

This fruit has been scarified for too long. The rough surface of the scarifier has made an opening too large and the fruit has lost its seed. The empty fruit is covered with Alternaria hyphae.

Scarified Fruit

Five fruits of Gaura coccinea (Onagraceae) seen from above. Fruits were mechanically scarified in a scarifier available at the OPGC. Fruits are ordered from top left to bottom right according to the time they remained in the scarifier. Starting at the top left corner is a non-scarified fruit, followed by fruits that were scarified for 15, 30 and 90 and 120 seconds. The fruit at the bottom right corner, scarified for 2 minutes (120 seconds), has been drastically abraded, is smaller in size, and has lost its seed.

Seed In Fruit

Here is a fruit that has been scarified for just the right amount of time. The fruit has a pore large enough for gibberellin to go in and the radicle to come out, but small enough to avoid seed loss. This one in particular has been scarified for 60 seconds, but the amount of time necessary for each fruit to reach this point varies greatly depending primarily on the size of the fruit. Smaller seeds require less time in the scarifier than larger seeds.

Seedling

Gaura coccinea seedling germinated in a petri dish after being treated with concentrated sulfuric acid for 60 minutes and 720 mg/L Gibberellic Acid.