Maturation of seeds of Caesalpinia echinata Lam. (Brazilwood), an endangered leguminous tree from the brazilian atlantic forest

Abstract

The present work describes changes during the maturation process of seeds of Caesalpinia echinata Lam. Individual flowers were tagged in the day of their anthesis and the pods were collected directly from the branches from 32 to 65 days after flowering (DAF). Results obtained suggested that physiological maturity of C. echinata seeds occurred ca. 60-65 DAF, immediately before shedding, when seeds had 30-40% water content.