Seed fill, viability and germination of NSW species in the family Rutaceae

Abstract: The New South Wales Seedbank (at Mount Annan Botanic Garden) stores seeds of both common and

threatened species for conservation, research and restoration or revegetation projects. The value of the collections

depends on our ability to germinate seeds once they have been retrieved from storage. The collection includes 129

collections representing 93 taxa in the family Rutaceae, but seed viability in Rutaceae is variable, germination cues

are poorly-understood and problems are likely to arise in trying to grow plants from seed.

In this study we quantified seed fill and/or viability and germination for 112 species in the Rutaceae family. For many

of the species, this is the first time that these seed characteristics have been recorded. We found that seed fill (0–100%)

and seed viability (0–97%), were highly variable, with 80% of collections having low viability (<75%). There was

also a trend for threatened species to have lower seed fill than common species, while viability and germination were

similar. This review reaffirms the need for further study of seed characteristics in Rutaceae.