Several aspects of seed germination of 64 legume species native from the Amazon forest were studied under nursery conditions. From the total, 52 are trees, 10 are lianes, 1 is a shrub and J is a herbaceous plant, all with natural occurence on non-flooded or seasonally flooded sites. Fifty-eight percent of the studied species presented, without pre-treatment, germination above 70% in periods less than 91 days. Seven species with hard tegument exhibited germination lower than 40%. Fifty nine percent of the species from seasonally flooded sites presented hypogeal germination, while fifty four percent of the species from non-flooded sites presented epigeal germination. Poiyembriony occurred in 22% of the studied species. Seeds with lenght greater than 3.1 cm presented hipogeal germination only, while seeds with lenght less than or equal 1.0 cm presented epigeal germination only.
Leguminosae; Amazon forest; seeds