2021 Volume 67 Issue 2 Pages 82-88
Pulsatilla cernua (Thunb.) Spreng. is an endangered plant species, which lives mainly in semi-natural grasslands of Japan. We investigated P. cernua emergence and seedling survival at planters in the years 2014 and 2018. The soil conditions were humus soil, soil with litter, sand and gravel, set up under two varying light conditions: bright light condition and dark light condition with cheesecloth. As a result, seedlings emerged more often in humus soil under bright light conditions and in sand under dark conditions. The survival rate was higher in dark conditions, particularly in litter. Many seedlings grew in small grain sized sand with large contact surface area and in humus soil which easily holds water. The survival rate was particularly higher in litter where it is easy to retain water and in dark conditions. On the other hand, the rate of seedling survival decreased due to long non-precipitation periods, which suggests that seedlings germinate in June and survive from July to August due to the stable precipitation.
