When sown in soil, the commencement of seed germination (i.e. radical protrusion) was observed after 16–20 days, depending upon the cultivar. Emergence of radicals continued intermittently for up to 40 days. Over that time 3–71% germination (40.2%) was observed, depending upon the cultivar (Table 1). All the in vivo germinated seedlings developed into healthy plantlets.