Seeds of V. reitzii were collected from plants of the bromeliad collection of the Department of Plant Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Santa Catarina State, South Brazil. The seeds were submitted to disinfestations with 70% ethanol (3 min), sodium hypochlorite 2% (35 min) then rinsed three times in distilled and autoclaved water. The seeds were then inoculated in 200 ml glass flasks containing 20 ml of MS ( Murashige and Skoog, 1962) culture medium supplemented with Morel vitamins ( Morel and Wetmore, 1951), and gelled with agar Sigma® (0.7%, w/v). The pH of the culture medium was adjusted to 5.8 prior autoclaving at 1.5 atm. at 121 °C during 15 min