Morphology of fruits, seeds and seedlings of Erythrina velutina willd., leguminoseae - Papilionideae

The knowledge about the morphological aspects of both seeds and seedlings has several applications, such as in taxonomy, interpretation of the germination tests under laboratory conditions, in nurseries, as well as in ecological studies. Therefore, the goals of this work were to describe and illustrated both internal and external morphologies of the fruits and seeds as well as the germination phases and seedling development of mulungu (Erythrina velutina Willd.). The fruits and seeds were collected in the soil, which were dispersed by trees distributed throughout different forest fragments in the district of Areia in the State of Paraiba, Brazil. One hundred units were randomly selected for the morphological description of the fruits, seeds and germination phases. The results showed that the seed was reniform; had axial embryo with pulpous cotyledons; epigeal phanerocotylar and showed the presence of heterophylly at the seedlings phases. The described and illustrated aspects were homogeneous and reliable for the identification of the species. Thus, the results are useful in the technological work for evaluation of the physiological quality of the seeds as well as for evaluation of seedling morphology during germination tests. In addition, the results are useful for identification of the species in nurseries and in natural regeneration studies.