Nymphaea nouchali var. versicolor ‘Bua Phuean’: Seed morphology and germination in vitro

Abstract

Nymphaea nouchali var. versicolor ‘Bua Phuean’ is one of Thai native species of dayblooming waterlily. Since the expansion of community from metropolitan area and the appreciation on exotic species of Nymphaea, number of this plant in environment is noticeably decreased. One of the efficient methods to conserve and increase the amount of this plant is seed germination. Thus, seed morphology and developmental stages of ‘Bua Phuean’ were investigated before germinating in vitro. The results revealed that ‘Bua Phuean’ seeds could be categorized into 5 stages and each stage also had dissimilar morphology. After the stages 3 to 5 seeds were germinated under aseptic condition, seed in stage 5 showed the highest germination rate at 82.22 %. During seed germination, coleoptile emerged from seed coat before root became visible.