The parana pine has a very large dispore, the "pinhão", rich in starchy reserves. The mobilization of these reserves by the embryo was quantified in transversal sections of the megagametophyte, in five stages of seedling development, sampled in the light and in the darkness. The consuption of starch grains was in plantlets grown in light than those grown in darkness. There was a tendency to quicker use up of the the megagametophyte starch near to embryo.
starch degradation; parana pine; seed; anatomy; light