Seedlings of Pinus caribaea var.
hondurensis planted at Keochia Silvicultural
Research Station, Chittagong in 1972
reached an average height of 14.0 m and
started bearing fruits in 1982. The trees
flowered during the months of January-
February and cones ripened in August-
September of the same year. Some seeds
were hand-picked from two selected trees
in 1982 and the seeds were extracted from
the cones by exposing them in the sun.
Germination experiment was carried out
with them. The seeds were first tested by
floatation process with 85% ethyl alcohol
for finding out the empty seeds. After the
test, 220 mature seeds were sown in
polybags filled up with forest top soil. An
appropriate quantity of chemical fertilizer
was also applied. The tops of the bags