The genus Cleomeis widely distributed in drier areas of the tropics and subtropics. Cleome dendroidesand C. roseaare Brazilian native species that occur mainly in Atlantic Forest and sandy coastal plains, respectively ecosystems negatively affected by human impacts. Cleome spinosais frequently found in urban areas. Many Cleomespecies have been used in traditional medicine, as C. spinosa. In the present work, was investigated C. dendroides, C. roseaand C. spinosagerminative behavior under in vivo conditions, as well as was established suitable conditions to in vitrogermination and seedling development. The in vivogermination was performed evaluating the influence of temperature, substrate and light. It was observed that only C. spinosaseeds presents physiological dormancy, which was overcome by using alternate temperatures. The substrate influenced
significantly the germination of C. roseaand the seeds of C. endroidesshowed the highest germination percentages in the different conditions evaluated. The post-seminal development stages under in vivoand in vitroconditions were defined. It was observed that the development was faster under in vitrothan in vivoconditions. An effective methodology for in vitrogermination, enabling the providing of material to experiment on plant tissue culture was established to C. dendroidesand C. spinosa.