Determinação da curva de embebição de água de sementes de Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.), Tecoma stans (L.) E Bauhinia monandra Kurz

Abstract

The forest species Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.), Tecoma stans and Bauhinia monandra Kurz are considered important medicinal plants, long being used in traditional medicine, but also valuable ornamental species for its size and the beauty of its flowers, being used in squares, parks and gardens. Ideal for hot climates, being tolerant do heat and drought. This study aimed to determine the water absortion curve for three ornamental forest species (Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.), Tecoma stans (L.) and Bauhinia monandra Kurz). Thus, it was made with eight repetitions of 10 seeds, a total of 80 seeds per species, distributed in germitest paper wet by 2.5 times it’s dry weight with distilled water. The seeds were conditioned in B.O.D. germination chambers, at 30°C and constant photoperiod. At the first 20 hours, data was collected hourly. Afterwards, data was collected in a 12 hours interval, until at least 50% of the seeds of each repetition started extending its radicule. Only the T. stans seeds presented a triphasic pattern in its imbibition curve, the C. pulcherrima and B.monandra seeds exhibited only the phase I and phase III.