In Solidago, the pappus, a modified calyx, protects ovary and fruit from predation and is strongly involved in anemochory. In this study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the mechanical removal of pappus decreases the final percentage and speed of seed germination. We examined S. ×niederederi, a natural hybrid between invasive S. canadensis and native S. virgaurea, in comparison to its parental species and S. gigantea. We conducted a 21-day germination test in the laboratory, using 50 fruits with intact pappus and 50 fruits with removed pappus in four replicates, for each taxon. The statistical analysis demonstrated that the final percentage of germinated seeds was remarkably lower in the group of fruits with removed pappus in S. canadensis (p ≤ 0.05) and S. gigantea (p ≤ 0.05). Moreover, the speed of seed germination was also significantly lower after pappus removal in S. canadensis and S. gigantea, based on the Timson’s index (p ≤ 0.05). In the case of S. ×niederederi and S. virgaurea, the hypothesis was rejected. We assumed that the small size of the cypselae could be responsible for the negative effect of pappus removal on seed germination.

在Solidago中，一种经修饰的花萼木瓜可以保护卵巢和水果免于被捕食，并强烈参与了除草作用。在这项研究中，我们旨在检验以下假设：机械去除巴布斯会降低种子发芽的最终百分比和速度。我们检查了小号。× niederederi，侵入性之间的自然混合加拿大一枝黄花和本地小号。virgaurea，与其亲本和S. gigantea相比。我们在实验室中进行了为期21天的发芽测试，每个分类单元使用50个完整完整的小果的果实和50个去除了小果的果实，一式四份。统计分析表明，发芽的种子的最终百分比的组的水果中得到显着降低与在除去冠毛加拿大一枝黄花（p  ≤0.05）和S.巨（p  ≤0.05）。此外，种子发芽的速度也显著冠毛去除后降低加拿大一枝黄花和S.巨基于所述Timson的索引（p  ≤0.05）。在S的情况下。× niederederi和小号。virgaurea，该假设被拒绝。我们认为，小矮牵牛可能是去除木瓜对种子发芽的负面影响。