Germination of seeds with dormancy requires the use of a methodology that can overcome it efficiently. This study was carried out with the aim of determining the most efficient methodology to overcome dormancy in seeds of Bauhinia monandra Britt. and Bahunia ungulata
L. Seeds of the first species were submitted to six treatments: mechanical and sulphuric acidscarification (20min.), immersion in giberelic acid solution (200ppm) and in hot water (85°C for a period of eight hours), pre-freezing (4°C for a period of 10 days) and control (without any treatment). As for the second species, the following processes were tested: mechanical and sulphuric acid scarification (5, 10 and 15min.), immersion in giberelic acid (100ppm and 200ppm) associated to mechanical scarification, in potassium nitrate (0.2%) also associated to mechanical scarification and in hot water (85°C for a period of eight hours), pre-freezing (4°C for a period of 10 days) and no treatment (control). Effects were evaluated considering percentage, speed and mean time to germination. The experimental design used was a completely radomized one with four replications and the averages were compared through the Tukey test, at 5% probability. There were significant differences among the treatments for the three variables in the two species. The conclusion is that the most probable cause for the dormancy, in both species, is the impermeability of the seed
coating and the most efficient treatments to overcome the dormancy of the seeds under study were immersion in sulphuric acid (20min.) for B. monandra and mechanical scarification of the seed coating for B. ungulata.