Deep Simple Epicotyl Morphophysiological Dormancy in Seeds of Endemic Chinese Helleborus thibetanus

Helleborus thibetanus is an endemic species in China with important ornamental and medicinal value. However, the seeds have dormancy, and their germination percentage is low under natural conditions. This research was carried out to determine the seed germination requirements of H. thibetanus and to characterize the type of seed dormancy. The morphological post-ripening process of the seed embryo was studied according to the morphological anatomy, and the effects of temperature and gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) on seed germination were investigated in H. thibetanus . The H. thibetanus seeds had a heart-shaped embryo at maturity. The embryo fully grew within the seed through warm stratification, and the embryo/seed ratio increased from 8.58% to 42.6%. The shortest time for a radicle to emerge (58.33 d) and the highest radicle emergence percentage (84.44%) were obtained at a temperature of 15 °C. The results showed that the H. thibetanus seeds had a morphophysiological dormancy. In addition, 300 mg/L GA 3 treatments shortened the time of warm stratification and increased the radicle emergence percentage. Seeds with emerged radicles could not emerge epicotyl–plumule without cold stratification, which showed that the H. thibetanus seeds had epicotyl physiological dormancy. The length of the roots, cold stratification time, and GA 3 markedly affected the release of the epicotyl physiological dormancy in H. thibetanus . The seeds with 2.5 cm roots required the shortest time to break their dormancy (50 d), and the epicotyl–plumule emergence percentage was the highest. Additionally, GA 3 treatment also shortened the incubation time in cold stratification (5 °C) and successfully broke the epicotyl physiological dormancy. Our study showed that H. thibetanus seeds exhibited deep simple epicotyl morphophysiological dormancy. Temperature, GA 3 , and duration of stratification played vital roles in the seed germination of H. thibetanus . This research will provide valuable data for seed germination and practical dormancy-breaking techniques and will promote the cultivation and conventional crossbreeding of H. thibetanus .