Star-flowers are as several plants of the Eriocaulaceae family, native of the fields rupestres of Minas Gerais and of Bahia, being used their capitulum and escape for decoration ends. Among the species explored commercially, she stands out the Syngonanthus elegans (Bong) Ruhland, known as star-flower foot-of-gold and, for such a reason, it is one of the species with larger extinction danger. The objective in this research was to evaluate the effect of the crop time, of the irrigation and dry soil seeds permanence in the initial development of Syngonanthus elegans (Bong.) Ruhland). . Capitulum of S. elegans were picked manually in six times (20/05/06, 21/06/06, 28/07/06, 29/08/06, 20/09/06 and 20/10/06) in place of natural occurrence inside of the Campus II of UFVJM in a Neossolo Quartzarênico Hidromórfico típico and, later, were submitted to vigor and germination tests (Experiment 1). The seeds of each crop time were sowed superficially in plastic glasses (one chapter in each glass), containing the original soil and irrigated with distilled water everyday, every two day, four days, six days and eight days, for a period of sixty days. It was made the counting of the emerged plants in each glass to the forty and sixty days of the beginning of the sowing (Experiment 2). Seeds picked in 21/06/06 were sowed also superficially in plastic glasses (one capitulo in each glass) in dry soil, staying for thirty days, sixty days and ninety days in this condition and, after, irrigated everyday. It was made the counting of the emerged plants in each glass to the forty and sixty days of the beginning of the irrigation (Experiment 3). Used a entirely randomized design for the Experiments 1 and 3 and entirely randomized design in the factorial outline 5 x 6 (irrigation periods x crop times) for the Experiment 2, with six repetitions. The best physiological quality seeds of S. elegans was obtained in the crops accomplished in 28/07/06 and 29/08/06. Intervals of irrigation of two or more days affected the emergency of the plants of S. elegans negatively. The permanence for ninety days in dry soil improved the physiological quality seeds.
vigor; germination; emergence
