Morphology of caryopses, seedlings and seedling emergence of the grass Calamovilfa longifolia from various depths in sand

The spikelets of the grass Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook) Scribn. are one flowered and the dispersal unit is composed of a caryopsis (3.5 mm long and 0.9 mm wide) enclosed in lemma and palea. The highest germination of caryopses and emergence of seedlings occurred from 1-2 cm depths and seedling emergence decreased with increasing depth of burial. The maximum depth of sand from which a seedling can emerge is about 8 cm. Seedlings emerging from deep locations had first internodes which were more elongated than those of seedlings from more shallow plantings. Coleoptile lengths of seedlings from shallow or deeply buried caryopses were similar.