Variation in floral characteristics and growth habits within the native range of the North American wildflower Ratibida columnifera (Nutt.) Wooton & Standl. suggests potential for breeding and selection efforts to develop improved cultivars for commercial and residential landscapes. Experiments in seed propagation were performed to enable perpetuation of unique germplasms. Overnight hydration, storage condition variations, stratification and scarification, and seed maturation effects were assessed to determine impacts on viability and percent germination. Overnight hydration had no impact on percent germination. Germplasm had a significant effect on germination for all remaining experiments. Seed maintained viability at the same rate through 18 months, when slight reductions were noted. Cold storage at 3C had no effect on viability or percent germination of dry seed compared with storage at 23C. All three germplasms exhibited increased percent germination with some stratification period, and declined significantly in percent germination with all acid scarification treatments. Experiments indicated that most germplasms benefit from between 30 to 60 days of cold, moist stratification. There was a significant interaction effect among germplasms, location on the inflorescences, and maturity stages for R. columnifera. Data suggest that seed should be harvested as close as possible to when natural dispersal would occur for optimum germination. The degree of improvement in viability and percent germination associated with harvesting at various developmental stages, seed pretreatments, and storage conditions suggests that to achieve germination success, pretreatments should be used for propagation of seed from mature inflorescences and that variation can be expected within different genotypes of this species.
