Abstract: Fargesia extensa, an alpine woody bamboo endemic to Tibet, China, is of great value as an ornamental landscape species. Its seed (caryopsis) morphology and germination characteristics were observed and analyzed in this paper. The results indicated that F. extensa seeds were typical caryopsis, brown and spindle with a ventral groove.The length, width, ratio of length to width and 1 000-grain weight of seeds were 6.91±0.84 mm, 1.38±0.11 mm, 5.01±0.64 and 7.81±0.24 g respectively. The seed vitality could last ca. 14 months at 4 ℃ and seeds finished germination within ca. 15 days without dormancy. The germination rate of fresh seeds in Lhasa nursery was 81.3%, and dropped sharply to ca. 40.0% in Kunming nursery after one-year storage at 4 ℃. Soaking seeds with 200 ppm GA₃ had no significant effect on germination rate, germination potential and germination duration, but it could accelerate germination 2—3 days earlier.