The Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation on the Pattern of Spore Germination in Funaria hygrometrica Hedw.

Introduction: In 1782 Hedwig published a morphological description of spore germination in mosses in his Fundamentum historiae naturalis muscorum frondosorum. Since then others (Schoene, 1906; Brown, 1919; Van der Wijk, 1932; Chalaud, 1932) have described spore germination in Funaria hygrometrica Hedw., the Cord Moss, reporting four general types of germination. This study was undertaken to determine the effect of ultraviolet radiation on the spore germination pattern of F. hygrometrica. No previous work is known on the effect of ultraviolet radiation on germination of moss spores.