Laura, What you say is true. However, some species don't have aboveground cotyledons and the cotyledons may last anywhere from a few days to most of the year. It's certainly worth germinating seeds so you can get a search image for seedlings that you can carry with you into the field. However, field identification of seedlings may need to be made on the basis of other characters and identifying all new seedlings will often will require frequent visits.
Eric Dr. Eric S. Menges Archbold Biological Station Packages: 123 Main Dr. PO Box 2057 Venus, FL 33960 Lake Placid, FL 33862 phone: 863-465-2571 ext. 235 fax: 863-699-1927 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Laura M. Hill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 8:56 AM To: [email protected] Subject: determining vegetative recruits from seedlings in the field Dear all, I am researching the demography and life-history of a perennial plant that reproduces both sexually and vegetatively. Does anyone have experience determining vegetative recruits from true seedlings in the field? Am I right in saying that only seedlings will have cotyledons and vegetative recruits would have only true leaves? Thanks for any advice, Laura
