Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. is a native species from the Northeast region, Brazil, which has been increasingly cultivated from the States of Maranhão to Rio de Janeiro. It presents great potential for urban forestry, hedging and wood production. The present research had as objective to evaluate the influence of the provenance and seed size on the germination and vigor of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. An experiment was conducted at the Laboratory of Seed Analysis of CCA-UFPB, Areia, Paraíba State, Brazil in a completely randomized design with the treatments arranged in a 3x3 factorial, with three provenances and three size classes , four replicates of 25 seeds. The following characteristics were analyzed: 100-seed weight, seed dimensions, percentage and first counting, germination speed, length and weight of dry matter of primary root and hypocotyl and weight of cotyledon dry matter . It was verified that the germination was not influenced by seed size, however, it was influenced strongly by the provenance. The tests of first count and germination speed were not shown appropriate for seed vigor evaluation, being this better appraised by cotyledon and hypocotyl dry matter. Seed vigor was directly related with size, being thus justified the use of size classes for seedling production.
Sites; seed dimensions; vigor tests; size classes
