SEED INSPECTION 23 



STUDIES OF FLOWER SEEDS 



Conducted by the Seed Laboratory 



Waldo C. Lincoln, Jr., Laboratory Assistant 



Under the Supervision of 



Clark L. Thayer, Professor, Department of Floriculture 



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

 by the Seed Laboratory to determine the quality of flower seeds offered for sale 

 in various retail outlets. Seed of 298 lots, representing 42 genera, packeted by 22 

 wholesalers or distributors, were obtained from 62 retail sources by the Seed 

 Inspector. Four lots of Ipomoea and 16 perennials were collected but were not 

 tested. 



The lots were distributed am.ong the various genera as follows: 



Ageratum 13 Delphinium 7 Nicotiana 3 



Alyssum 23 Dianthus 4 Papaver 1 



Anchusa 3 Didiscus 2 Petunia 26 



Antirrhinum 3 Dimorphotheca 2 Phlox 4 



Calendula 9 Eschscholtzia 4 Portulaca 7 



Calliopsis 2 Gaillardia 1 Reseda 3 



Callistephus 22 Gypsophila 4 Salvia 4 



Celosia 4 Helichrysum 3 Scabiosa 8 



Centaurea 20 Iberis 4 Tagetes 24 



Cleome 3 Impatiens 4 Tithonia 2 



Convolvulus 1 Kochia 3 Tropaeolum 7 



Cosmos 16 Lobelia 1 Verbena 4 



Cynoglossum 2 Lupinus 2 Vinca 1 



Daisy 1 Mirabilis 1 Zinnia 40 



Dates of sowing were June 4, 5, and 6. Seeds were sown in twenty-foot sec- 

 tions in the row and in most cases, because of the small quantity of seed in a 

 packet, it required the entire package of seed to plant the section; in a few lots 

 there were not enough seeds in a packet to plant the twentj-foot section. 



Germination tests were made in the laboratory for all samples of seed tested 

 in the field, except for those having insufficient seed. The results of laboratory 

 germination are indicated in the tables only for those sam.ples that were recorded 

 as giving poor germination in the field. The coordination of stands in the field 

 with laboratory germination was found to be excellent. 



Results of field germination were rated as "good" if seeds germinated in ap- 

 proximately 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 varieties were true to name, regardless of the number of plants, with only 

 one-third or less of 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 that did not produce sufficient plants for providing satisfactory 

 data are so indicated. 



Weather during the period of germination in the field was excellent and re- 

 mained good during the entire growing season. 



