We analyzed the processes of both dormancy break and induction in Scorzonera reverchonii (Compositae) seeds when desiccated to 5 % of humidity and stored at low temperature (5 ºC). At dispersal time, seeds were dormant and only 1 % germinated when incubated at 20/7 ºC in light/darkness during 30 days. Seeds permanently stored at 5 ºC kept dormant. However, this became viable after two years, since 88-93 % seeds germinated if afterwards they were treated with gibberellic acid. When seeds were stored at room-laboratory conditions (i.e., temperature = 22 ºC, relative humidity = 50-60 %), they gradually surpassed dormancy, and after one year germination reached 85 %. Thus, S. reverchonii seeds have non-deep physiological dormancy. When seeds stored one year in the room-laboratory (non-dormant seeds) were transferred to 5 ºC in dryness, a gradual induction of secondary dormancy was triggered, reducing germination in 21-29 % after one year in comparison with seeds permanently stored in room-laboratory conditions. After one year at 5 ºC, seeds transferred again to room-laboratory germinated progressively, showing germination percentages as high as those in seeds permanently stored in room-laboratory conditions 10 months later.