Growth and Metabolism of the Embryo and Attached Seedling of the Viviparous Mangrove, Rhizophora mangle

Fruits of Rhizophora mangle were collected at various stages of development, separated into fruit wall, testa, and embryo or seedling. Wet weight, dry weight, and percent water content was determined for each. All parts of the fruit showed a similar growth pattern with a period of rapid exponential growth during the first 100 days, followed by a period of slower growth after the radicle-hypocotyl axis emerged through the fruit wall. In the final 45 days of seedling attachment the fruit wall and testa did not grow, and seedling growth rate was further reduced. Water content of the fruit wall was constant at 65 % throughout development; that of the testa decreased uniformly from 60 to 54%; embryo water content was uniformly 80%. In the germinated seedling, water content declined progressively to 58 % by the time detachment occurred. Growth of isolated seedlings in sterile culture was not responsive to inhibition by abscisic acid or to stimulation by benzyl adenine, and these hormones had no effect on incorporation of 3H-amino acids into protein or of 3H-uridine into RNA. These results are interpreted in relation to a theory which proposes that development of water stress in the seed is the signal for the inception of dormancy.