[A comparative study on mucilaginous diaspores of four plant species]

A comparative study was conducted on the mucilaginous diaspores of Thymus serpyllum, Plantago depressa, Plantago maritima, and Linum stelleroides. The mucilage amount was estimated by the sand-holding capacity of seed under soaking and watering conditions. Soaking and watering experiments each had 4 treatments. The results indicated that under different soaking time treatments, the mucilage amount of Linum stelleroides and Plantago depressa was of nonsignificant difference, but that of Plantago maritima and Thymus serpyllum was increased with prolonged soaking-time. Under different watering treatments, the mucilage amount of the 4 plant species all had an increasing trend along with the increased water volume. After soaking for 80 min, the weight of sand-holding seed of Plantago maritima was 60 times more than its seed weight, Plantago depressa was 10 times, and Thymus serpyllum and Linum stelleroides was 4-6 times. After watering with 8 mm rainfall, the weight of sand-holding seed of Plantago maritima was 20 times more than its seed weight, Plantago depressa was 6-10 times, and Thymus serpyllum and Linum stelleroides was 2-7 times. In averaging various treatments, the percentage of the sand-holding seed to the total seed of Linum stelleroides, Thymus serpyllum, Plantago depressa and Plantago maritima was 67.7%, 94.5%, 97.7% and 99.5%, respectively.