Table 1.

Germination percentages of the species in the seed addition experiment, ranked by germination capacity

	Growth form	Common habitats	W	W + C + W	C + W	Disturbed	Undisturbed
High germination rates of fresh seeds
Cerastium alpinum	f	P, S, H	100	100	99	25.3	1.8
Deschampsia flexuosa	g	R, H	97	97	91	25.6	2.1
Festuca ovina	g	R, H	94	94	96	19.3	3
Salix herbacea	dd	H	93	93	81	0.3	0
Vaccinium myrtillus	dd	R, H	52	53	58	5.6	0.4
Silene acaulis	f	L, P	60	64	78	37.5	3.7
Dryas octopetala	dd	L, P	44	51	51	10	4
Increased germination after cold stratification
Salix glauca	s	R, S	18	87	86	3.3	0
Betula nana	dd	R	43	70	68	9.3	0.4
Sibbaldia procumbens	f	H	1	68	0	7	0.6
Gnaphalium supinum	f	H, S	21	47	14	3.4	0
Germination failed in incubators
Empetrum hermaphroditum	ed	P, R	0	0	0	0.5	0
Vaccinium uliginosum	dd	L, P, R	0	0a	0a	17.5	1.4
Vaccinium vitis-idaea	ed	R	0	0a	0a	14.4	0.2
Average			45	59	51	12.8	0.9

Germination percentages shown are those observed when the species was tested in vitro after 6 weeks of warm incubation (W) followed by 20 weeks of cold stratification and another 6 weeks of warm incubation (W + C + W). The third column gives germination percentages of seeds that had 20 weeks of cold stratification followed by 6 weeks of warm incubation (C + W). The last two columns give average germination percentages in disturbed and undisturbed vegetation calculated from the maximum number of emerged seedlings in each plot, observed after sowing in the field. The growth form and the common habitats for each species are indicated

Growth form: dd deciduous dwarf shrub, ed evergreen dwarf shrub, f forb, g graminoid and s shrub. Common habitats: H herb dominated, L lichen heath, P poor dwarf shrub dominated heath, R rich dwarf shrub dominated heath, S Salix scrub

^a Seeds were attacked by fungi during the treatments