干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Schismus arabicus is a common annual with an ’escape’ strategy of caryopsis dispersal and ’opportunistic’ strategy of germination. It inhabits the Negev in the Saharo-Arabian and Irano-Turanian phytogeographical regions. It displays a quantitative long-day response for flowering and a day length response in caryopses germinability. Germination in the dark was much higher than in light. The longer the period of light, from 0.5 h to continuous light, the lower the percentage of germination. The low percentage of germination, which is also regulated by temperature during dry storage, is important for the survival of S. arabicus under the unpredictable distribution and small amounts of rain in its extreme desert habitats. 1996 Academic Press Limited