Germination and early seedling growth are crucial stages in crop establishment, hence determine the final density of plants per unit area. Mucilages are Polysaccharide macromolecules which are soluble in water and in addition to the medical and industrial roles they also play an important ecological and agronomical roles in the maintenance of seed germination and vigour. Therefore, to investigate the role of mucilage in germination of medicinal plants, standard germination test conducted on 4 replications of 25 seeds of 14 species of medicinal plants with mucilage from the families of Lamiaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Linaceae and Plantaginaceae in petridishes with 9 cm diameter with filter paper premoistined with distilled water in the Seed Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in year1391.Different treatments to break dormancy applied. Results showed that species of Ocimum basilicum, Descurainia Sophia , Salvia sclarea, Plantago major, Lallemantia ibrica and Plantago lanceolata had germination below 80% in distilled water. Removing mucilage increased germination in 6 species except in salvia sclarea. Disinfection with sodium hypochloride (1%) and KNO3 and GA3 treatments increased germination percentages in the species . Expriments are continuing to investigate the role of mucilage in seed dormancy.

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