Acknowledgements This research was funded by Regione Siciliana, Dipartimento Interventi Infrastrutturali, Area Studi e Programmazione. We are grateful to F. Guaitoli and G. Matranga for supporting the
We investigated the resistance of acetylated rattan against soft rot and other soil inhabiting micro-organisms in comparison with wood of beech and Scots pine.
We measured physiological parameters including water uptake, in-vitro embryo germination ratio, and seed coat structure observed by scanning electron microscopy