Saving seeds of plant species, both rare and common, is one of our most important backup plans for the planet
In the very last breaths of the very last day of 2016, I noticed a seedling of Protea montana had pushed off its fluffy little seed coat and revealed itself to the world. My glee at seeing this new life made me grin from ear to ear and do what has become known in our house as “the germination dance”.
P. montana is a threatened species from the very highest peaks of the Western Cape of South Africa. The fluffy seed coat it was so eager to lose allows it to be blown - after a fire has released it from the prison of a dead flower head - to a site where the same fluff allows it to corkscrew into the shallow soil and wait for winter rain.
Continue reading...from Gardening blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2jflIBV
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