We studied the resource allocation process of a large-seeded species, Dryobalanops lanceolata, during germination and early stages of seedling growth in Sarawak, East Malaysia. The seeds contained high contents of starch (74.3% of the total 1.57 g mean dry weight of the cotyledon) and lipid (15.0%). All of these reserves were exhausted by the time the first two pairs of leaves had developed (about 40 d after planting), but relatively little had been reserved in leaf or root by that time. This suggests that the large amount of seed reserve of D. lanceolata is necessary just to form a certain size of stem and the necessary number of leaves to set the plant up for photosynthesis. After seed reserves were exhausted, shoot elongation and new leaf production stopped, and most photosynthate was allocated to the expansion of the root system and to storage in the root as starch. The storage reserves in the root are thought to be used for the next growing stage, not to act as insurance for sprouting in case of shoot damage.