Harvest times of Comanthera elegans, a worldwide traded Brazilian species of everlasting flower: implications on seed production, germination, and on species management Maria Neudes Sousa Oliveira 1 • Bruna Anair Souto Dias 2 • Guilherme Carvalho Andrade 3 • Ma ´rio Kiichiro Tanaka 1 • Rafael Gualberto A ´ vila 4 • Luzimar Campos da Silva 3 Received: 25 September 2014 / Accepted: 21 May 2015 Ó Botanical Society of Sao Paulo 2015 Abstract Comanthera elegans (Bong.) L.R. Parra & Giul (‘‘sempre-viva-pe ´-de-ouro’’) is one of the most economi- cally important species among the Eriocaulaceae in Brazil. Its inflorescences are used to make handicrafts and have long been exported to all over the world. The collection period usually begins in the second half of April and extends to May, occasionally until the first half of June. We assessed seed production and germinability throughout the 2006 harvest season: April–November, as well as the variation in mor- phology and anatomy of inflorescences along this period. In the evaluated flowering, seeds still had not yet been com- pletely formed by early April, the onset month of commercial collection. Instead, germinable seeds were first observed in May, while seed dispersal was already in progress in early June. Collection in June resulted in plant uprooting, due to the tighter attachment of the scape to the rosette. The beginning and peak of germination occurred earlier for seeds from the most delayed collections, and the highest ger- minability was presented by seeds collected in September. We showed that the best period for the plant sexual repro- duction surpasses the best period for commercial collection. Due to the onset of germinable seeds only as late as at the second half of the harvesting period, encouraging the delayed beginning of inflorescence collection may well represent a management strategy. Furthermore, the reser- vation of non-harvesting areas, which would secure the maintenance of plant populations in the wild and thus guarantee seed production and dispersal; maintaining rem- nants of inflorescences in collected areas; and encouraging cultivation should be considered. Keywords ‘‘Campos Rupestres’’  Eriocaulaceae  Inflorescence anatomy  Post-seminal development  Rocky fields  Sempre-vivas Introduction The Eriocaulaceae, popularly known as everlasting flowers, star flowers or ‘‘sempre-vivas’’, are widespread throughout the Brazilian mountain rock savannas (‘‘Campos Rupestres’’), mainly in the Espinhac ¸o Mountain Range, which extends through the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia (Giulietti et al. 1988, 1996). Most of them are endemic or microendemic to specific habitats in Brazil (Costa et al. 2008; Parra et al. 2010; Sano et al. 2013). The family comprises 10 genera and ca. 1400 species (Giulietti et al. 2012), and most species traded as everlasting flowers belong to genera Comanthera, Syngo- nanthus, and Paepalanthus (Giulietti et al. 1996; Parra et al. 2010). Everlasting (‘‘sempre-vivas’’) refers to the name given to inflorescences and scapes that, after collection, keep their color and shape for a long time. These inflorescences are used for craftwork (Eichemberg and Scatena 2011), home deco- ration, dried floral arrangements, and bouquets. In Brazil, & Luzimar Campos da Silva luzimar@ufv.br Maria Neudes Sousa Oliveira mneudes@yahoo.com.br 1 Departamento de Agronomia, Faculdade de Cie ˆncias Agra ´rias, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM), Diamantina, MG 39.100-000, Brazil 2 Universidade Federal do Piauı ´ (UFPI), Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas (CPCE), Bom Jesus, PI 64.900-000, Brazil 3 Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Centro de Cie ˆncias Biolo ´gicas e da Sau ´de, Universidade Federal de Vic ¸osa (UFV), Vic ¸osa, MG 36.570-900, Brazil 4 Instituto Federal de Educac ¸a ˜o, Cie ˆncia e Tecnologia do Tocantins (IFTO), Campus Diano ´polis, Diano ´polis, TO 77.300-000, Brazil 123 Braz. J. Bot DOI 10.1007/s40415-015-0179-1