Functional Importance of Seed Weight on the Seedling Establishment of Syzygium bankense (Hassk.) Merr. & L.M.

Seedling is the first and prominent phase of plant development. Seedling performance can be determined by seed and its embedded characteristics, among them is seed weight. In this study we would like to see how seed weight within species affect seedling establishment. The hypotheses tested were that heavier seed is regarded advantageous compared to lighter seed by functionally produce more competitive seedlings for better growth. Heavier seeds indeed resulted in higher shoot length than lighter seeds. The same pattern was also pronounced for the correlation between seed weight and shoot length of Syzygium bankense and Quercus gemelliflora. There was also a significant positive correlation between seed size and number of leaf within species