Scorzonera hieraciifolia L. achenes were collected from Sivas Tödürge Lake (İran-Turan Region, Turkey) and brought to the laboratory.Thellungiella parvula (synonym, Eutrema parvulum ) seeds gently requested and acquired from Prof. Dr. İsmail TURKAN, Ege University, İzmir, TURKEY. The mature achenes of S. hieraciifoliawere carefully separated from their pappus bristles. The achenes were stratified for 2 d at 4°C in petri dishes containing double-layer wet filter paper. After that, the achenes were treated with 10% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) solution for 8 min for sterilization, followed by three rinsing stages with sterile distilled water.
To determine whether S. hieraciifolia is an extreme halophyte plant, we compared S. hieraciifolia with the model plant for extreme halophytes, T. parvula , closely related toArabidopsis thaliana . Similarly, T. parvula seeds were treated with 10% (v/v) NaOCl solution for 4 min for sterilization followed by three rinsing stages with sterile distilled water.