Serotiny is a strategy in which the retention of mature seeds in parent structures allows plants to cope with environmental variability like heat, drought or fire. Although this phenomenon might be common in Cactaceae, and particularly in Melocactus, it has generally been scarcely addressed. The main goal of our work is to investigate if there are seeds hidden in the cephalium of Melocactus matanzanus and if there are, determine whether or not these seeds maintain their viability. We also discuss some advantages the cephalium may offer as diaspore after the death of individuals. Cephalia collected from dead individuals were divided into four slices and their seeds counted; we also assessed the viability and photoblastic response of the seeds by using growth chambers at 25/30°C, and by a cut test on the seeds that did not germinate. Our results showed retention of viable seeds of different ages in all slices of the cephalium. Seeds were photoblastic positive with germination between 11–22% and viability above 50% in the portion of the lots that did not germinate.

中文翻译：

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Melocactus matanzanus（仙人掌科）中的血清素和头孢菌在个体死亡后种子传播中的作用

血清素是一种策略，其中成熟种子保留在亲本结构中，使植物能够应对高温、干旱或火灾等环境变化。尽管这种现象在仙人掌科中可能很常见，尤其是在猕猴桃, 一般很少有人解决。我们工作的主要目标是调查是否有种子隐藏在马坦萨金丝瓜如果有，确定这些种子是否保持活力。我们还讨论了头孢菌在个体死亡后作为水铝石可能提供的一些优势。从死者身上收集的头孢被分成四片，并计算它们的种子；我们还通过使用 25/30°C 的生长室以及对未发芽的种子进行切割测试来评估种子的活力和光母细胞反应。我们的结果表明，在所有头颅切片中保留了不同年龄的可存活种子。种子是光母细胞阳性的，发芽率在 11-22% 之间，在未发芽的部分中，活力高于 50%。