The objective of this work was to study the height growht of Pinus elliottii situated in the Piratini region (southeastern mountain range) in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It was collected 16 dominant trees in different relief positions. The height/age data were adjusted using the function of RICHARDS (1959) with three coefficients and the growth trends were studied by covariance and graphycal analysis. The results showed that relief was not a good site indicator, because there were intersections of height curves of trees which grew at the same relief position. However, the site index curves were established individually for each group, wihch was formed by tree with the same growth trend,the results showed that these intersections only occur at younger ages and thus do not justify the establishment of another system of site index curves in the region.
Pinus elliottii; height growth; growth trend
