Abstract
Research on seeds has a long history. Most botanists know about the writings of the Greek scholar Theophrastus (372–287 BC). He displayed an awareness of seed physiology that would not disgrace the pages of books written two millenia after his death. Dormancy, reserve deposition, the effects of environmental factors on seed development and germination, seed longevity and priming — topics which are in the forefront of modern research — all received his comments (see Evenari, 1984). Relatively little new knowledge was added until the end of the 18th century: and from the late 19th and early 20th century studies on seeds grew apace to meet the demands of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, malting and brewing and as part of the search for an understanding as to how the physical and biological worlds function.
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© 1989 Plenum Press, New York
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Black, M. (1989). Seed Research — Past, Present And Future. In: Taylorson, R.B. (eds) Recent Advances in the Development and Germination of Seeds. NATO ASI Series, vol 187. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0617-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0617-7_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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