Eleonora A rmitage. 
i 27 
NOTE ON THE ALLEGED DELAY IN GERMINATION OF 
THE SEEDS OF CERTAIN EUPHORBIAS. 
1 WAS asked by Mr. I. H. Burkill, F.L.S., to experiment on the 
germination of some seeds of Euphorbia Peplus L., which he 
had kept for some years; and the results seem to be of interest. 
Previous experiments with Euphorbia seeds had appeared to 
point to a long delay before germination ; the facts being contained 
in a paper of Winkler’s in Ber. d. deutsch. hot. Gesellschaft, Bd. I. 
p. 452 , and quoted by Wiesner in his “ Biologie der Pflanzen.” 
Winkler states that seeds of Euphorbia cyparissias (a perennial), 
sown in the spring following the autumn in which they ripened, 
refused to germinate before the lapse of four to seven years, the 
majority germinating after seven years; and seeds of Euphorbia 
exigua (an annual) did not germinate until nine years had passed. 
My experiment show's that no such delay is necessary in one species 
of Euphorbia and also that the seeds retain their vitality for a 
number of years. The seeds in question were put up in a packet, 
dated December 14 th, 1892 , and as I sowed them on March 30 th, 
1901 , they were then nearly nine years old, having probably ripened 
during the summer of 1892 . The method of sowing w r as this:— 
I divided the seeds into four portions of about ten seeds in each 
and sowed them in pots. Nos. 1 and 3 were sown dry, in Nos. 2 
and 4 the seeds w^ere soaked in water for 48 hours beforehand. 
Pots 1 and 2 were placed in a hotbed, and pots 3 and 4 were sunk in 
the open ground. 
Tabus of Appearance of .Seedlings. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
Ill heat, dry. In heat, soaked. 
In ground, dry. 
I11 ground, soaked. 
No. 
Date. No. 
Date. 
No. Date. 
No. 
Date. 
1 
19 April 1 1 
19 April 
2 20 May 
3 
22 ,, 1 
2 5 June 
2 
1 May 2 
z 6 ,, 
5 1 July 
2 
14 » 2 
30 
! 3 
14 May 
S 
9 
9 
0 
— 
— 
' 
The table shows the order in which the seedlings appeared. 
The first result of the experiment w r as to show that the vitality of 
the seeds was unimpaired Many annuals germinate in heat in two 
to six days; those took twenty to forty-five days, while those in the 
