Seeds
The seeds are dispersed by wind, small rodents, or attachment to animal fur, within a week of maturity. They are also moved as a contaminant in hay, grain, straw, and machinery. It is an abundant seed producer, with a potential in excess of 300 seeds per plant; seed production per plant is dependent on plant density. Under optimal conditions, it may produce 450 kg of seed per hectare with about 330,000 seeds/kg.
The seeds maintain high viability in dry storage, lasting over 11 years. In the field, under buried conditions, seeds will lose their viability in 2–5 years. The primary limit to germination is inadequate moisture. Seeds can withstand high soil temperatures. Germination is best in the dark or in diffuse light. They germinate most quickly when covered with soil, but do not need to be in contact with bare soil; some leaf litter cover will generally improve germination and establishment of seedlings. Seedlings emerge rapidly from the top 2.5 cm of soil, and a few plants emerge from depths of 8 cm, but not from seeds 10 cm below the surface.
Read more about this topic: Bromus Tectorum
Famous quotes containing the word seeds:
“The seeds of the life of fishes are everywhere disseminated, whether the winds waft them, or the waters float them, or the deep earth holds them; wherever a pond is dug, straightway it is stocked with this vivacious race. They have a lease of nature, and it is not yet out.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No habit or quality is more easily acquired than hypocrisy, nor any thing sooner learned than to deny the sentiments of our hearts and the principle we act from: but the seeds of every passion are innate to us, and nobody comes into the world without them.”
—Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733)
“A candle in the thighs
Warms youth and seed and burns the seeds of age;”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)