Harvest times of Comanthera elegans, a worldwide traded Brazilian species of everlasting flower: implications on seed production, germination, and on species management

Abstract

Comanthera elegans (Bong.) L.R. Parra & Giul (''sempre-viva-pé-de-ouro'') is one of the most economically important species among the Eriocaulaceae in Brazil. Its inflorescences are used to make handicrafts and have long been exported to all over the world. The collection period usually begins in the second half of April and extends to May, occasionally until the first half of June. We assessed seed production and germinability throughout the 2006 harvest season: April-November, as well as the variation in morphology and anatomy of inflorescences along this period. In the evaluated flowering, seeds still had not yet been completely formed by early April, the onset month of commercial collection. Instead, germinable seeds were first observed in May, while seed dispersal was already in progress in early June. Collection in June resulted in plant uprooting, due to the tighter attachment of the scape to the rosette. The beginning and peak of germination occurred earlier for seeds from the most delayed collections, and the highest germinability was presented by seeds collected in September.We showed that the best period for the plant sexual reproduction surpasses the best period for commercial collection. Due to the onset of germinable seeds only as late as at the second half of the harvesting period, encouraging the delayed beginning of inflorescence collection may well represent a management strategy. Furthermore, the reservation of non-harvesting areas, which would secure the maintenance of plant populations in the wild and thus guarantee seed production and dispersal; maintaining remnants of inflorescences in collected areas; and encouraging cultivation should be considered.

Expression of Enzymes During the Germination of Seeds in Endangered Cerrado Species

“…For the results of the tetrazolium test at the end of the germination test, it was observed that the remaining seeds were not viable (Table 1). Similar results regarding the low percentage of germination in everlasting seeds were found in the work of Garcia et al 2014; Oliveira et al (2015). These low germination results are expected since many authors have highlighted some aspects such as: climate variation that can influence the beginning and end of the harvest, the physiological state in which the seed is, the period of maturation or could be by climatic conditions and/or edaphic micro conditions of the place in where the plants developed in which seeds were produced (Oliveira & Garcia, 2011).…”

“…Several authors have observed low physiological quality in everlasting seeds. Oliveira et al (2015) affirm that the highest rate of germination of C. elegans, at a temperature of 25±2 °C, was 22.932% for seeds collected in the month of September. In the collections in the periods that precede or follow this month, the percentage of germination did not surpass 11.72%.…”

“…These low germination results are expected since many authors have highlighted some aspects such as: climate variation that can influence the beginning and end of the harvest, the physiological state in which the seed is, the period of maturation or could be by climatic conditions and/or edaphic micro conditions of the place in where the plants developed in which seeds were produced (Oliveira & Garcia, 2011). Oliveira et al (2015) while studying the collection period of C. elegans, stated that collections before May, the seeds germination rates were below 50%. These results agree with those found in the literature and prove that the collection of inflorescences occurs before the period of seeds formation and that only a small portion of these can achieve the physiological maturity.…”

Desenvolvimento da sempre viva (Comanthera elegans (Bong.) L.R. Parra & Giul.) em três sistemas de cultivo

“…Recruiting through seeds is commonly observed in Eriocaulaceae species (CASTELANI, 1996;SANO, 1996), including those in the genera Comanthera (OLIVEIRA et al, 2014;OLIVEIRA et al, 2015) and Syngonanthus (SCHMIDT et al, 2007). For Syngonanthus nitens (golden grass), 40% of the plants in a population evaluated by Schmidt et al (2007) were recruited via seeds.…”

Eriocaulaceae in the Brazilian Amazon and the use of Species Distribution Modelling in its conservation

“…The scapes, with the capitula and flowers, when detached from the rest of the plant, continue to appear living, from which the popular names of "everlasting plants", or in Brazil "sempre-vivas", originate. Because of their beauty, the scapes and capitula are collected and sold as decoration in the house, and has resulted in an intensive extractive industry (Giulietti et al , 1996Oliveira et al 2015).…”