SEED INSPECTION 



25 



STUDIES OF FLOWER SEEDS 

 Conducted by the Department of Floriculture 



Clark L. Thayer, Professor 

 Waldo C. Lincoln, Jr., Laboratory Assistant 



This is the fourteenth year in which flower seed studies have been conducted 

 by the Department of Floriculture in conjunction with the Seed Laboratory to 

 determine the quality of flower seeds offered for sale in various retail outlets. 

 Seed of 268 lots, representing 54 genera, packeted by 27 wholesalers or distribu- 

 tors, were obtained from 45 retail sources by the Seed Inspector. Included in 

 the retail sources were five retail seed stores with the remainder obtained from 

 chain, hardware and grain stores. Five lots of perennials were collected but were 

 not tested. 



The lots were distributed among the various genera as follows: 



Ageratum 6 



Alyssum 10 



Anchusa 1 



Antirrhinum 5 



Arctotis 1 



Aster 1 



Calendula 12 



Calliopsis 2 



Callistephus 14 



Celosia 1 



Centaurea 6 



Chrvsanthemum 6 



Clarkia 4 



Cleome 2 



Convolvulus 3 



Cosmos 8 



Cynoglossum 4 



Delphinium 7 



Dianthus 3 



Didiscus 1 



Dimorphotheca 3 



Eschscholtzia 3 



Gaillardia 6 



Godetia 1 



Gypsophla 5 



Helichrysum 4 



Iberis 5 



Impatiens 5 



Ipomoea 8 



Kochia 1 



Linaria 1 



Linum 1 



Lobelia 1 



Lupinus 3 



Mathiola 3 



Mirabilis 4 



Nemophila 2 



Papaver 5 



Petunia 9 



Phlox 3 



Portulaca 7 



Reseda 4 



Salpiglossis 1 



Salvia 3 



Sanvitalia 1 



Scabiosa 7 



Statice 1 



Tagetes 20 



Thunbergia 1 



Tithonia 1 



Tropaeolum 3 



Venidium 1 



Verbena 4 



Zinnia 39 



TOTAL 263 



Dates of sowing were May 17, 18, and 19, a full month earlier than in most of 

 the preceding thirteen j'ears. Seeds were sown in twenty-foot sections in the 

 row and in most cases, because of the small quantity of seed in a packet, it re- 

 quired the entire package of seed to plant the section; in some lots there were 

 not enough seeds in a packet to plant the twenty-foot section. 



Germination tests were not made in the laboratory on any of the lots of seed. 

 Results of germination were rated as "good" if seeds germinated in approximately 

 two-thirds of the row; "fair" between one-third and two-thirds; "poor" for 

 less than one-third. Performance was designated as "satisfactory" if the varie- 

 ties were true to name, regardless of the number of plants, with only one-third 

 or less ot the plants not true to form or color; "fair" between one-third and 

 two-thirds not true; and not satisfactory if less than one-third was true to name. 

 Lots which did not produce sufficient plants for providing satisfactory data are 

 so indicated. 



Since field germination tests are not up to the standards of germination tests 

 conducted in the laboratory, this factor should be kept in mind when analyzing 

 the results. It is impossible to control the conditions in the field which affect a 

 reliable test of the viability of a seed and until work can be done in the labora- 

 tory and standards established, the type of field germination trial now being 

 used is not a true test of the ability of the seed to germinate. 



