As of today, March 7, 2013, it has officially been
one week since we watered and sealed our first batch of carefully counted seeds.
Though many of the seeds have begun the process of germination others have not.
Unfortunately, many of our specimens are covered in mold and I think this means
we will not have an accurate picture of germinating conditions.
Ambrosia
deltoidea (triangle bursage)
-
0% germination (excessive mold present)
Cercidium
microphyllum (palo verde)
-
35% germination (slight mold
present)
Larrea
tridentata (creosote bush)
-
0% germination (slight mold present)
Encelia
farinosa (brittlebush)
-
2% germination (no mold)
Cylindropuntia
acanthocarpa (buckhorn cholla)
-
0% germination (slight mold present)
Phacelia
campanularia (desert bluebell)
-
94% germination (no mold)
Opuntia
phaeacantha (prickly pear)
-
0% germination (no mold)
Eschscholzia
Mexicana (golden poppy)
-
4% germination (slight mold present)
Sphaeralcea
ambigua (desert globemallow)
-
2% germination (no mold)
Lupines
arizonicus (Arizona Lupine)
-
0% germination (slight mold)
Lesquerella
gordonii (bladder pod)
-
0% germination (slight mold present)
Carnegiea
gigantea (saguaro)
-
56% germination (no mold)
Because our project revolves around plants of the
lower Sonoran Desert, I have been trying to learn about this vast area that
occupies much of Arizona. The Sonoran Desert covers approximately 120,000
square miles. Its borders reach across the states of the Southwest and into Northwest
Mexico. The low and much hotter desert is referred to as the lower Sonoran, and
is – at least at first glance – very barren in appearance. It is actually home
to a vast array of endemic plants, more than 500 species of which are used by
humans for both nutritional and medicinal purposes. Some of these unique plants
have been included in our project.
For example:
Larrea
tridentata (creosote bush) – this amazing plant has been used
by the peoples of the Sonoran Desert for thousands of years. It has been used
to treat a variety of conditions including; congestion, idney stones, snakebite,
tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases and cancer. It contains
nordihydroguaiaretic acid which is a proven and strong antioxidant, however
chronic use has been shown to result in both renal and hepatotoxicity.
Opuntia
phaeacantha (prickly pear) – this plant has traditionally
been used for both nutritional and medicinal purposes. As a food source, they
add a tart flavor to a number of Mexican dishes including pies and jellies and
they are also eaten fresh. Medicinally it is used as an anti-inflammatory or in
larger doses as a laxative. In western culture it has been used for reducing
the effects of alcohol hangovers.
Dear McKenna,
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and have been reading it with interest. I live outside the Tucson area and have been looking into altering my yard with native plants - those that naturally grow here, not just the 'showy' ones that are so commonly found only in gardening stores.
I have been curious about the allelopathy of many of our desert species since I am hoping to find the best combinations to put together, so I'll be following your allelopathy project with much interest!
And in that spirit, there was one piece of information that I thought you might want to consider when it comes to germinating some of these seeds. For a few years now, I have gathered wild seed from various plants, including lupines, and spread it around my yard.
While I have not been studying this, one informal observation I've made has been that some of the local seeds don't sprout when they receive a lot of water. I have noticed that the majority of the plants are sprouting a while after they receive the water, or not until they have just the right combination of water and temperature.
They seem to sprout in higher quantities after there has been a monsoon season with more plentiful rainfall, but it's after that rainfall has stopped and the temperature has started to increase to a certain point.
And these same lupines don't sprout during the summer, even with higher rainfall during that time.
I'm not certain exactly what affects these seeds germination, not having studied it formally, but I've spoken with other gardeners who have also tried to sprout some of our native seed using methods like dampened paper towels, and some seeds never seemed to do well. Lupines were one of them, as I recall.
So some of your lack of germination for any seeds that typically sprout during a dry season might be due to other factors on top of the mold or allelopathy, yes?
Just figured I'd give you another factor to consider for future experiments. I'm hoping this one turns out very well! :-)