Viability of Seeds — ^A kamine 
43 
CD 50 
SO CENT REL. HUM. 
45 PER CENT REL. HUM. 
€0 PER GENT REL. HUM. 
75 PER CENT REL. HUM. 
00 PER C£NT REL. HUM. 
1 airticht 
M OPEN 
GERMINATION DATE 
Fig. 5. The effect of temperature and relative humid- 
ity on the viability of stored mamani seed. 
that Storage of mamani seed in the open at 
temperatures of 59° or 45° F. seemed to be 
the optimum storage condition for maintain- 
ing the viability of this seed over an extended 
period of time. 
Monterey cypress seed 
The germination behavior of Monterey 
cypress seed in storage under various condi- 
tions is presented in Figure 6. At room tem- 
perature, the lowest and the highest relative 
humidities were the least effective in main- 
taining the viability of this seed. The 45 and 
75 per cent relative humidities were more ef- 
fective. The 60 per cent relative humidity was 
the most effective storage medium at room 
temperature. The airtight storage and open 
storage were inferior to only the 60 per cent 
relative humidity. At 59° F., the 30 per cent 
relative humidity was the least effective stor- 
age medium, and the 60 per cent relative 
humidity was the most effective. The position 
of the germination curves of the 45, 75, and 90 
per cent relative humidities was approxi- 
mately midway between the curves of these 
two humidities (Fig. 6). The curve of the air- 
tight storage approached that of the 30 per 
cent relative humidity, and the curve of the 
open storage approached that of the 60 per 
cent relative humidity. At 45° F., the most 
effective medium was the open storage, and 
the least effective was the airtight storage. The 
30, 45, and 60 per cent relative humidities 
were equally less effective than the open 
storage. The highest relative humidities, 75 
and 90 per cent, were somewhat superior to 
the airtight storage toward the latter part of 
the storage period in maintaining the viabil- 
ity of the seed at 45° F. 
When the graphs in Figure 6 are superim- 
posed, it appears that at relative humidities of 
GERMINATION DATE 
Fig. 6. The effect of temperature and relative humid- 
ity on the viability of stored Monterey cypress seed. 
