Germination in Barrow, Alaska, Tundra Soil Cores

Soil cores, collected at Barrow, Alaska, in 1972, were frozen for 6 yr and then placed in a growth chamber or greenhouse. Chrysosplenium tetrandrum (Saxifragaceae) seedlings, 204.8 m-2 in the growth chamber and 39.2 m-2 in the greenhouse, were recorded. Distribution of seeds was patchy with 25 of 36 surface (0 to 8 cm) cores yielding no seedlings. No seedlings appeared in subsurface (8 to 16 cm) cores. In addition to these seedlings, six species of mosses, fruiting bodies of two species of fungi, and several algae were observed. Germination of C. tetrandrum seeds collected from growth chamber plants showed