PubMed · 2026-06-13
Three Korean fumewort species (Corydalis) share the same class of seed dormancy — requiring specific sequences of warm and cold temperatures before germinating — and this dormancy type has been preserved across the genus even after long geographic separation, though the precise temperature triggers differ by species.
All three species had underdeveloped embryos at seed dispersal and exhibited morphophysiological dormancy (MPD), confirming MPD is conserved across the Corydalis genus despite long-term geographic separation.
C. remota and C. incisa require warm-then-cold temperature sequences for germination and could not be shortcut with gibberellic acid (GA3), classifying them as deep simple regular MPD.
C. speciosa germinated under cold conditions alone (non-deep complex regular MPD), but germination was enhanced by prior warm exposure — showing diversification in dormancy depth even within the same dormancy class.