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Orchid seeds are called dust seeds because of very reduced structure. A mature dust seed is composed of living embryo and two seed coats which are formed by dead cells. While the outer seed coat is distinctive, the inner seed coat (known as carapace) is very thin and tightly surrounds the embryo. Seed coat is hydrophobic and prevents water from entering embryo. To induce germination artificially, calcium hypochlorite or sodium hypochlorite solutions are often used. However, the effect of chemical scarification on seed coats is poorly understood. I focused on seeds of Epipactis helleborine and Dactylorhiza majalis and I analysed changes in seeds induced by calcium hypochlorite treatment using germination of seeds in vitro, permeability tests of seed coats and histochemical analyses of selected components of seed coats. The most prominent change observed was decrease of amount of lignin in the outer seed coat. This is likely related to increase in permeability of seeds and stimulation of in vitro germination rate in Dactylorhiza majalis which has only thin and less complex inner seed coat. However, this relationship was less evident in Epipactis helleborine, which has thicker and more complex inner seed coat which is more resistant to hypochlorite scarification. This could indicate existence of...

Physical dormancy of seeds is a widespread adaptation, allowing plant seeds to time the germination to a suitable season. Seeds with physical dormancy possess hard seed coats, which are impermeable to water and sometimes also to gases. This allows seeds to create a long-term seed bank and to wait for favourable conditions even for years. There are two main mechanisms, which break physical dormancy and enable water to enter the seed. The seed coat can be disrupted through the whole surface, or in one specialized place only. The disruption through the whole surface is common in the seeds dispersed by endozoochory. In this case, the long-distance seed dispersal brings an important advantage. In physically dormant seeds, which are dispersed by other ways, a complicated structure called water gap is usually present in the seed coat. Water gap responds to exogenous signals and controls when the water enters the seed. In such a case, physical dormancy can be broken as a response to annual or diurnal temperature fluctuations, which times germination into a proper time of the year. Another species germinate in response to high temperatures during a fire. This ensures, that seedlings emerge in suitable conditions with a high level of available nutrients, low competition and that they can restore the damaged...