Seeds of Desmodium canum (Gmel) Schinz et Thell (Leguminosae) were germinated in Petri dishes on filter paper, with trifluralin and fluchloralin at different concentrations 0,0; 0,5; 2,5; 12,5 and 62,5 ppm). After 28 days in that medium, the seedlings were transfered to pots contraining soil without herbicide, where they stayed until 101 days of development. The experiment was conducted under laboratory conditions; the temperature range was 25-28°C. Plants with 101 days of development, pretreated with the lower concentrations of the herbicides, showed atrophy and were less vigorous when compared with normal plants. With higher concentrations, the majority of the plants did not survive to the treatments. The stem histological analysis, at the node and internode level, showed intense disarrangement of the tissues, mainly of the vascular tissue.
Desmodium canum; trifluralin; fluchloralin; anatomy