VOLUME LXXII NUMBER 1 
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BOT wc aY CNeTTE 
JULY to2t 
RESPIRATION OF DORMANT SEEDS 
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL LABORATORY 282 
Hope SHERMAN 
(WITH FOUR FIGURES) 
Introduction 
Plant physiologists have long been interested in the physio- 
logical processes associated with the development and particularly 
with the germination of seeds. Much attention has been devoted 
to those seeds which, when ripe, fail to respond to germinating 
conditions unless subjected to special treatment or permitted to 
undergo a distinct rest period. Such dormant seeds offer many 
problems to pique the curiosity of the investigator, and work on 
individual seeds has given some conception of the environmental 
factors influencing dormancy (4, 15, 17, 40), as well as of the internal 
conditions retarding germination and of the chemical changes 
which take place in after-ripening (19, 25, 27,38). Furthermore, 
dormant seeds often retain their viability for long periods of time. 
BEALE (7, 8, 24, 41) reported that Amaranthus retroflexus will remain 
viable in the ground for thirty years. If such seeds are fully 
imbibed, their remarkably prolonged viability may be due either 
to especially large food reserves or to a tremendous reduction of 
the rate at which such reserves are respired. A study of the 
respiration of stored seeds at different time intervals might help 
to interpret this point. 
