This study evaluated the biometric characteristics of fruits and quantified seed germination of Couratari stellata, a 30-40 m tree species occurring on non-inundated soil from the Guianas to central western-Amazonia. The fruit length, number of seeds per fruit, number of completely formed and empty seeds, seed moisture, mass of 100 seeds, percentage of seed germination, mean time of germination, dead seeds and abnormal seedlings were evaluated. The seeds were sown in a substrate containing sand and sawdust (1:1), in four replications of 50 seeds. Fruit length ranged from 59 to 97 mm with five to 26 seeds. The percentage of completely formed seeds was 93.3% and empty seeds was 6.7%. One hundred seeds weighed 10.7 g, with 56.8% humidity. Germination was slow and not uniform, starting 29 days after sowing. Maximum germination, 82.5%, was recorded 65 days after sowing. Mean time of germination was 45.5 days. Percentage of dead seeds and abnormal plants was 17.0% and 0.5%, respectively. No relation was found between length of fruits and seed number per fruit. The seeds of C. stellata present dormancy.
Dormancy; mean time of germination; fruit biometry
