Hypseocharis is a genus endemic to the high Andes and sister to all other Geraniaceae genera. Regarding its basal position in Geraniaceae evolution, its germination ecology can provide important insights into the early evolution of physical dormancy. Imbibition tests performed on seeds of two Hypseocharis populations from Bolivia indicate that their seeds indeed have physical dormancy like all other Geraniaceae. These results indicate that physical dormancy in Geraniaceae evolved during the Eocene before the uplift of the Andes mountains and before the events that led to the cross-Atlantic disjunct distribution of Geraniacae.

Seed dormancy was analysed in Geraniaceae, testing 29,103 seeds of 35 species for seed-coat impermeability to water. Seeds of wild and cultivated species from a number of different climatic/ecological zones (northern Germany, the Canary Islands and South Africa) were investigated. Seeds from cultivated plants and natural populations had similar (±2%) percentages of water-impermeable seeds. The percentages of impermeable seeds at maturity were also mostly constant (±2%) for two different years. The species analysed contained from 0 to 100% impermeable seeds at maturity, and could be classified into three quantitative types of physical dormancy: four species with no impermeable seeds (PY0), 10 species with a maximum of 80% impermeable seeds (PY80), and 21 species with more than 80% impermeable seeds (PY100). Species with different life cycles and from very different habitats, e.g. Geranium pratense or Pelargonium capitatum, belonged to the PY100 group. However, all of the succulent shrubs investigated from the genus Pelargonium were PY0 species. Five years of dry storage at 20 ± 5°C decreased physical dormancy in a species-dependent fashion. Erodium cicutarium, for example, had 95% impermeable seeds at maturity; all of them became permeable during the dry storage and began to germinate immediately after placing them on a moist substrate. Physical dormancy of other species, e.g. Pelargonium zonale, Pelargonium vitifolium or Geranium pratense, was not affected by dry storage. Thus, physical dormancy is a diversely differentiated feature in Geraniaceae with regard to both percentages of impermeable seeds at maturity and maintenance of dormancy under particular conditions.