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An annotated translation of Noël Bernard’s 1899 article ‘On the germination of Neottia nidus-avis’

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Abstract

We translate Noël Bernard’s discovery of orchid symbiotic germination discovered on Neottia nidus-avis, as published in the May 1899 issue of the Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des sciences. In his note, Bernard (1874–1911) establishes the need for a fungus, which is also forming mycorrhizae in adults, for seeds germination. We provide illustrations reproduced from his later works, and summaries of the French text he cited. In our annotations, we show how early this discovery was done in Bernard’s career, and insist on the scientific framework at the end of the nineteenth century, where orchid germination was mysterious and the need for vicinity of parents was not fully understood. We comment the text of Bernard on the basis of the most recent knowledge on Neottia nidus-avis and on orchid mycorrhizal fungi. Introducing his following papers, we finally discuss the emergence of the concept of peloton digestion, and how Bernard’s work quickly paved the way to a general understanding of mycoheterotrophic germination in orchids and beyond.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Notes

  1. work done at the Laboratoire de Biologie végétale in Fontainebleau

  2. GERMAIN DE SAINT-PIERRE, La collection d’Orchidées des latitudes tempérées cultivées au château d’Eu (Bulletin de la Société botanique de France, t. XXIII, Session extraordinaire).

  3. ED. PRILLIEUX, De la structure anatomique et du mode de végétation du Neottia Nidus-Avis (Ann. Sc. nat. Bot., 4e série, t. V, 1856).

  4. E. PRILLIEUX & A. RIVIÈRE, Observations sur la germination et le développement d’une Orchidée (Angræcum maculatum) (Ann. Sc. nat. Bot., t. V, p. 119; 1856).

  5. J.-H FABRE, De la germination des Ophrydées et de la nature de leurs tubercules (Ann. Sc. nat. Bot., t. V, p. 163; 1856)

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Acknowledgments

M.-A.S. and J.M.’s research is supported by the 2015/18/A/NZ8/00149 grant funded by National Science Centre (Poland). The authors thank David Marsh for English corrections and advices in translation, as well as Alzbeta Novotna and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB - UMR 7205 – CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier, CP50, F-75005, Paris, France

    Marc-André Selosse

  2. Department of Plant Taxonomy and Nature Conservation, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308, Gdansk, Poland

    Marc-André Selosse & Julita Minasiewicz

  3. Emeritus Professor at the University of Rouen, 2346 rue de la Haie, 76230, Bois-Guillaume, France

    Bernard Boullard

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  1. Marc-André Selosse
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  2. Julita Minasiewicz
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  3. Bernard Boullard
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Correspondence to Marc-André Selosse.

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Selosse, MA., Minasiewicz, J. & Boullard, B. An annotated translation of Noël Bernard’s 1899 article ‘On the germination of Neottia nidus-avis’. Mycorrhiza 27, 611–618 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-017-0774-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-017-0774-z

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