Reproductive strategies and dimorphic seeds germination in Trifolium argentinense Speg., an amphicarpic species

Native from Rio Grande do Sul natural pastures, Trifolium argentinense Speg. has sexual reproduction through aerial and subterranean seeds (amphicarpy) and vegetative reproduction by regrowth from storage roots. In this study the seeds produced at the soil-surface flowers, the depth effect and scarification on the aerial and subterranean seeds germination and the storage roots produced by plants derived from the two types of seeds were evaluated. The aerial (0.10 cm) and soil-surface (0.11 cm) seeds were similar in size, but smaller than the subterranean seeds (0.14 cm), with no significant variation in the production of the three types of seeds. Aerial and subterranean seeds scarified at and sowed 2.5 cm deep germinated better than the scarified and non-scarified seeds sowed on the soil-surface and at 7.0 cm, evincing a depth effect on seed germination. Although amphicarpic, T. argentinense first invests in the production of the storage roots making sure the cloning of specific genotypes and allowing the plants to persist vegetatively year after year without the need for regeneration by seeds in unfavorable environments for sexual reproduction, such as in Rio Grande do Sul natural pastures, where hard grazing and trampling can destroy the aerial part of the plants.