Morphology of seeds, seedlings, and young plants of Dimorphandra gardneriana Tul

Abstract

Dimorphandra gardneriana Tul. is a legume, the fruits of which are used in routine extraction by the pharmaceutical industry. The objective was to study the morphological aspects of seeds, germination, seedlings, and young plants of Dimorphandra gardneriana Tul. The study was conducted at the Laboratory of Seed Analysis (LAS), Center of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Paraíba (CCA-UFPB), Areia - PB. The external morphological characteristics observed of the seeds were color, texture, and consistency of the teguments; seed shape; hilum and micropyle position; color and thickness of raphe and other structures present; besides internal embryo characteristics (cotyledons, hypocotyl-radicle axis, plumule, and central cylinder); and presence of the endosperm. The seed imbibition curve was determined by the weight of the seeds over a period of 90 h, evaluated every 6 h, with germination being considered as the protrusion of the primary root, or the moment when the primary root breaks the integument, and normal seedlings were evaluated on the 5th day after sowing. Most of the morphological characteristics identified in the plants and seedlings of D. gardneriana resembled those observed for other species of the same genus. The seeds of D. gardneriana Tul., were medium sized, with an average length of 11.95 mm, width of 5.33 mm, and thickness of 4.3 mm, unitegmic with a hard tegument, and impermeable to water. The process of imbibition of the seeds was initially slow and the three-phase curve of imbibition was not clear. The germination was epigeic and phanerocotiledonar and began on the 5th day after sowing.