The seed is sown between the 1st and 15th of November, acid germinates in ten or fifteen days.
The seeds, or properly fruits, are contained singly in a stony involucre or bract, which does not open until the enclosed seed germinates.
In other species of the genus the seed germinates on a branch, and the seedling produces clasping roots, and roots which grow downwards hanging like stout cords, and ultimately reaching the ground.
So soaked is the soil after the flood, that the grain germinates, sprouts, and ripens in April, without a shower of rain or any other watering.
In Zygnemaceae and Mesocarpaceae the zygospore, after a period of rest, germinates, to form a new filamentous colony; in Desmidiaceae its contents divide on germination, and thus give rise to two or more Desmids.