Abstract
IT is well known that the upper layers of many types of soil contain large populations of buried, dormant seeds estimated to amount to many thousands per acre in some instances1. Many of these buried seeds are viable and germinate readily when the soil is cultivated or disturbed in other ways. There is good evidence that such seeds can remain dormant in the soil for long periods; indeed, evidence has recently been presented that seeds which have lain in the soil for as much as 1,700 years are still viable2.
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References
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WESSON, G., WAREING, P. Light Requirements of Buried Seeds. Nature 213, 600–601 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/213600a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/213600a0
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