Germination of Anacamptis sancta (Orchidaceae) in nutrient media, water agar and various light regimes

Oikonomidis, S. & Thanos, C. A.: Germination of Anacamptis sancta (Orchidaceae) in nutrient media, water agar and various light regime. [In Magrini, S. & Salmeri, C. (eds), Mediterranean plant germination reports – 3]. Fl. Medit. 31: 271-276. 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.7320/FlMedit31.271 The asymbiotic seed germination of orchids is a complex process with considerable technical difficulties, due to the natural requirement of a plant-fungus symbiotic relationship under field conditions. Only on rare occasions, orchid seeds are known to germinate readily in water. Anacamptis sancta is a relatively common orchid species with its main distribution around the East Mediterranean Sea (Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Israel). Germination of A. sancta seeds was tested in different nutrient media, water agar and under various light regimes, in asymbiotic culture. In most experimental conditions tested, high germination percentages were observed with the highest germination (85.5%) obtained with a modified version of Malmgren medium without coconut water, under white light (12/12 h) at 20oC. In this study, results from all the experiments carried out are presented.