Developmental heat sum influences recalcitrant seed traits in Aesculus hippocastanum across Europe

 
Materials and Methods
Seed lot details
Seeds were collected from various European locations (Table 1)
in September / October 2002 and sent by air-freight to
Wakehurst Place, UK. Seeds were collected from a minimum
of five trees per location and dispatched within 3 d of
collection. To allow a comparison of seed development times
and environmental conditions during development, the
timing of flower fall was recorded at each seed location. This
Table 1 Some characteristics of the five seed lots of Aesculus hippocastanum studied
Seed lot
End of 
flowering
Seed fall/
collection 
date
Degree 
days
(
°C d)
Fresh 
mass
(g)
Moisture content (% f. wt)
Whole 
seed dry
mass (g)
Axis osmotic 
potential 
(MPa)
Embryonic axis
Whole seed
Aberdeen, Scotland
6/6/02
12/10/02
1666.1
3.5 
± 0.2
a
76.6 
± 1.5
a
69.0 
± 1.9
a
1.2 
± 0.1
a
−2.1 ± 0.1
(57
°10′ N 2°04′ W)
(73.5 
± 1.4)
(68.4 
± 2.5) (1.16 ± 0.5)
Sowiniec, Poland
15/5/02
15/9/02
2205.4
13.8 
± 0.5
b
64.9 
± 0.8
b
46.6 
± 0.6
b
7.4 
± 0.2
b
−2.3 ± 0.0
(52
°25′ N 16°53′ E)
Wakehurst Place, England
31/5/02
26/10/02
2158.2
15.5 
± 0.5
c
69.2 
± 0.8
c
49.0 
± 1.0
c
7.8 
± 0.2
b
−2.4 ± 0.0
(51
°03′ N 0°06′ W)
Angers, France
9/5/02
21/9/02
2396.5
16.2 
± 0.4
cd
60.7 
± 0.8
d
42.3 
± 0.5
d
9.4 
± 0.3
c
−2.7 ± 0.1
(47
°9′ N 0°32′ W)
(58.8 
± 0.8)
(45.5 
± 0.7) (9.9 ± 0.64)
Mt Parnes, Greece
25/5/02
17/10/02
2583.7
17.1 
± 0.3
d
59.7 
± 0.2
d
41.9 
± 0.2
d
9.9 
± 0.2
c
−3.0 ± 0.2
(38
°10′ N 23°45′ E)
Figures in brackets refer to results of a small scale preliminary study conducted in 2001 using seeds from Scotland and France. Values are 
± 1 SE 
of the mean. Values within the same column were compared by One-way 
ANOVA
, followed by Fisher’s LSD test. Those followed by the same 
letter are not significantly different (P 
> 0.05).
14698137, 2004, 1, Downloaded from https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2004.01012.x by Uzbekistan Hinari NPL, Wiley Online Library on [02/06/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License

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© New Phytologist (2004) 162: 157–166
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