Figure - uploaded by Ricardo Perdiz
Content may be subject to copyright.
FIGURE . Protium santamariae. A. Sterile branch with detail of a callus around petiole base (inset middle left) and of leaflet venation (inset above right). B. Flowering branchlet. C. Portion of inflorescence, displaying the twisted main inflorescence axis. D. Detail of inflorescence with flower. E. Staminate flower, with two petals removed. F. Adaxial view of petal. G. Longitudinal section of staminate flower. H. Lateral and adaxial views of stamen. I. Fruiting branch. A: Drawn from Aguilar 3342; B: Drawn from Thomsen 283 C-H: Drawn from Hammel et al. 18174 I: Drawn from Aguilar 193. Illustration by Bobbi Angell.
Source publication
Protium santamariae is described and illustrated. The new species is restricted to the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica but shares morphological similarities with two South American species, P. kleinii and P. krukoffii. We provide a description, a distribution map, notes on its taxonomy, and a key to distinguish it from morphologically similar species.
Similar publications
Fruits historically have been the key character for delimitation of tribes in the Burseraceae. However, fruit structure is incompletely known within the family, thus the importance of this character is unclear. This study of fruit anatomy in the traditional tribe Canarieae examines the distribution of the tissues that correspond to the exo-, meso-,...
Plant-based glues have been used by humans and Neanderthals for thousands of years. By reconstructing the technique Neanderthals used for plant-based glues and comparing the complexity with techniques to make glue by modern humans, insights of the relative intelligence of these Homo species can be obtained. To describe the plants and techniques use...
In terms of tropical vegetations of medicinal plants, Nigeria is regarded as one of the most diverse and appealing countries in the world. The genus Burseraceae contains over 150 species of trees and shrubs, the majority of which are found in Africa. In Nigeria, Boswellia dalzielii and Commiphora africana are widely used in traditional medicine to...
Boswellic acid is an Ursane group compound belonging to triterpenoids. It is the major constituents of the gum derived from plant Roxb. It belongs to Family Burseraceae. It is also known as and commonly known as the Salai guggal, white guggal, Indian olibanum. is medium-sized tree widely distributed in the India and Africa. B. Serrata is highly med...
The Socotra Archipelago (Yemen) is an interesting biodiversity hotspot, with a significant proportion of endemic species that have evolved to survive in an arid subtropical environment, inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The terrestrial ecosystems of Socotra face several threats, including climate change, overgrazing and soil degradation...
Citations
A new species of Theobroma from the Southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica is described and illustrated. Theobroma flaviflorum is restricted to the Osa Peninsula, where it has been collected on stream banks. The new species shows an unusual combination of characters including yellow flowers and globose mature fruits without ribs that are slightly sunken toward the apex and borne on terminal leafy terminal branches. The new species is compared with T. angustifolium, T. cirmolinae, and T. stipulatum which also have flowers that are yellow or orange; and with T. grandiflorum , T. hylaeum , and T. subincanum , which have similarly shaped fruits. A key for the Mesoamerican species of Theobroma is provided, as well as some notes for two of the species of Theobroma also reported for this region.
This review of Neotropical Burseraceae emphasizes developments since the last major review of the family in 2011. The Burseraceae comprise a Laurasian group (represented by Eocene fossils in the Northern Hemisphere) that originally dispersed through Central America into Amazonia. During cooling and drying events in the Oligocene, the frost-intolerant northern American progenitors were likely driven extinct; subsequently, the family experienced several vicariant events and later several long-distance dispersals across the Southern Hemisphere. From Amazonia, the family re-colonized Central America and the Caribbean. The most rapid diversifications in the Americas for the Burseraceae occurred during the Miocene in Protium and Bursera, much of it through geological events, dispersal, and habitat specialization. A number of taxonomic advances were made in Neotropical Burseraceae since 2011; these included 59 published new species overall, re-drawn generic limits in tribe Protieae, new genus records for Burseraceae in Central America and the Cerrado of Brazil, new taxa that more than doubled the number of Neotropical Dacryodes, and a recently recognized center of diversity for Protium in the Andes. Revised generic descriptions and a new key to the New World genera of Burseraceae are provided. Special attention is given to the implications of leaf architecture for characterization of clades. Monoecy (rare) and parthenocarpy (possibly frequent) are discussed, and the close relationship of dioecious trees and small bee pollination is highlighted. Most Burseraceae are dispersed by birds or arboreal mammals that carry pyrenes relatively short distances away from the mother tree; however, other modes are found in the family, including wind dispersal (rare in New World Burseraceae), clumped dispersal of pyrenes by ants and lizards, and oilbirds that can disperse Dacryodes fruits more than 30 km; some dispersers that ingest pyrenes also aid in germination. The diversity and abundance of Burseraceae in a number of regions and habitats (but especially in moist forests of Amazonia and dry forests of Mexico) are striking. This, plus the fact that the taxonomy and phylogeny of New World Burseraceae are relatively well-resolved, spotlights the Burseraceae as an important model organism for researching mechanisms of diversification, species limits, cryptic species, and “hyperdominance” in tropical forests. High chemical diversity and differences in biological activity make sense in the context of diversification and coexistence. Studies of chemical defenses support the idea of a “growth defense trade-off” and suggest that selection by different natural enemies could be implicated in the speciation process; they also show that closely related species often display high chemical divergence, and plants with the most chemical defenses have a lower number and diversity of insect herbivores. The range of physical and chemical properties of Burseraceae resin is reflected in their cultural uses, which are diverse while showing strong ethnobotanical convergence.
