The Fifth International Workshop on Seeds was held at the University of Reading, UK, from 10 to 15 September, 1995. Some 230 seed scientists, from a wide range of disciplines (botanists, biochemists, ecologists, agriculturalists, foresters, and commercial seedsmen), from 31 countries (Europe, the Americas, and Asia) participated in the workshop. A large number of oral and poster presentations was made during the workshop and we are pleased to publish so many of them in these Proceedings. The papers herein are listed by the sessions in which they were presented but, as is often the case, many papers cover a broader range of topics than the session titles imply. For seed physiologists, ecologists, and technologists, this book collates much of the current research on seeds.