WEIGHT OF SEEDS IN 1-3-SEEDED FRUITS OF LONCHOCARPUS COSTARCENSS (LEGUMINOSAE), A COSTA RICAN WIND-DISPERSED TREE

Abstract

The mature dormant seeds from a single large crop of Lonchocarpus costaricensis were found to weigh about 4 percent less when they came from 2-seeded fruits as when they came from 1-seeded fruits in the deciduous forest of Santa Rosa National Park, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. L. costaricensis has 1-3-seeded, wind-dispersed fru its and the seeds are not subject to post-dispersal seed predation by insects or rodents. Despite the very small differences in seed weight between 1·, 2- and 3-seeded fruits, the normal living seeds within each fruit category varied about 2-fold in weight. Possible causes are discussed.