Resumo. The Apeiba tibourbou is a forest species belonging to the family Tiliaceae, popularly known as ‘pau-dejangada’, which is widely used as ornamental, in medicine and your timber used in the manufacture of small boats. Seeds of this species were submitted to different osmotic potentials induced by polyethyleneglycol (PEG-6000) in order to verify their resistance to drought conditions. Seeds were previously scarified with sandpaper for 5 minutes and incubated at 25 and 30 ºC, at osmotic potentials of 0.0; -0.2; -0.4; -0.6; -0.8 and -1.0 MPa. The following parameters were analyzed: germination percentage, index germination speed, first count germination, length and dry matter of seedlings. A significant reduction in germination velocity and final percentage of germination from -0.2 MPa in relation to control was observed. It was foundthat water stress resistance limits ranged from -0.4 to -0.6 MPa.