The aim of this work was to induce the in vitro morphogenesis from inmature cotyledons of leguminous native trees from Argentina: Erythrina crista-galli L. (seibo), Acacia caven (Mol.) Mol. (espinillo), Parkinsonia aculeata L. (cina-cina), Gleditsia amorphoides (Griseb.) Taub. (espina de corona) and Sesbania punicea (Cav.) Benth. (acacia mansa). Inmature fruit were recollected from trees growing in La Plata (34º 55’S; 57º 57’W; 15 m asl), Buenos Aires. Fruit were surface sterilized and inmature seeds were removed, cotyledons were separated from the embriogenic axis. Cotyledons were stablished in Murashige-Skoog (MS) basal medium at half strength macro and micronutrients, supplemented with 3% sucrose, 0.65% agar, 0.165 g/l NH4NO3 and growth regulators (1 ppm 2,4-D (2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid) and 0.1 ppm Kin (Kinetin)). The cultures were incubated at 25 +/- 2ºC and 16 hours of light in irradiance of 60 µmol m-2 s-1. Somatic embriogenesis was observed in Acacia caven, adventitious shoot and roots regeneration in Parkinsonia aculeata, differentiating callus and roots were induced in Gleditsia amorphoides, while in Erythrina crista-galli and Sesbania punicea only calluses were formed. Results suggest that some leguminous native from Argentine could be propagated by tissue culture techniques.

Key words: Erythrina crista-galli, Acacia caven, Parkinsonia aculeata, Gleditsia amorphoides, Sesbania punicea, histology.