Studies on the seed and seedling morphology of species native to the Brazilian cerrado provide basic information for their identification, interpretation of laboratory germination tests and studies on their biological cycles and natural regeneration. The objective of this study was to describe external and internal seed characteristics, as well as to describe and illustrate the germination process and morphology in "hortelã-do-campo" seedlings. The germination test was carried out by using two sub samples of 50 seeds placed on blotting paper substrate, in clear plastic boxes, maintained in a germination camera at 30ºC with an eight-hour photoperiod. Evaluations were made weekly, during 30 days. The fruit is a carcerule and the seed has a dark-brown, opaque, rough integument, with a whitish hilum at its base. The seed is exalbuminous, the embryo is invaginated and the radicle end surpasses the cotyledon lower edge. Germination is phanerocotyledonar and epigeous and started two days after test installation and was characterized by radicle protrusion, with the cotyledons breaking the integument on the fourth day. The hypocotyl is greenish, cylindrical and hirsute. The seedling is completely developed twenty one days after germination, with the epicotyl and the first leaves opened and showing an opposite phyllotaxy.
medicinal plant; identification; hortelã-do-campo
