Abstract:

This paper summaries our studies on the “two-year seeds" of Crataegus pinnatifida, Sabina chinensis, Rosa, Sinojackia xylocarpa, Staphylea holocarpa, Symplocos tetragona, Ilex macrocarpa var. longipedunculata, Ilex latifolia, Halesia macgregorii, Cyclocarya paliurus and Disanthus cercidifolius var. longipes. The methods of breaking the mechanical and physiological dormancy of those “two-year seeds" are compared and analyzed, with the procedures of use summed up and the important of controlling the duration and conditions of stratification indicated, we emphasized the studies on the characteristics of care and endangered woody plants, which showed that the delayed germination of “two-year seeds" is a genetically controlled strategy for the species to survive that under the current global environment condition endangerment of the plants. Our researches have shown that the long winter-summer-winter period normally required for “two-year seeds" to germinate can be shortened to only 4 months with treatments of acid erosion followed by cracking and winter stratification.

Key words: two-year seeds, dormancy and germination, sulphuric acid treatment, cracking treatment, cold stratification