|
|
|
|
|
1999 Summer Scholars Program
|
Study of the Family Araceae
By Juan Chaparro
Mentor: Dr. Thomas B. Croat
Missouri Botanical Gardens, St. Louis, MO
|
|
The family Araceae is relatively unknown to the average person. While
most people may not recognize the names Monstera deliciosa,
Zantedeschia aethiopica and Deiffenbachia seguine, most
are relatively familiar with these plants' "common" names, the "Swiss
Cheese Plant", "Callum Lilies" and "Dumbcane". Despite the fact that
Aroids (the common name for a plant of the family Araceae) are one of
the highest selling houseplants in America, relatively little is
known about their anatomy and evolutionary morphology.
During my six weeks in Dr. Croat's laboratory I experimented with
cross-pollination of Aroids, described a new species of
Anthurium, and created a poster to be displayed during the
International Aroid Conference to be held at the Missouri Botanical
Gardens here in Saint Louis from August 9th to the
11th.
The new species of Araceae I described is named Anthurium
curicuriarense. The specie is a member if the section
Calomystrium and is apparently a narrow endemic known only from the
type locality. Anthurium curicuriarense was originally
discovered by Selby Botanical Garden botanist Mike Madison in an
Amazon expedition to the upper Rio Negro in Amazonas State of Brazil.
On an isolated peak, Cerro Curicuriarí, the plant was found in
a cloud forest. The process of describing Anthurium curicuriarense
was done according to the International Botanical Code of
Nomenclature and in the format of most current botanical
journals.
The genus Dieffenbachia has twenty-three species in Central
America, most occurring from Nicaragua to Panama. Species diversity
of Dieffenbachia shows a general decrease from Mexico to
Middle America, with the lowest totals just north of the San Juan
Depression, followed by a marked increase approaching South
America.
|
Country
|
No. Species
|
|
Mexico
|
3
|
|
Guatemala
|
2
|
|
Honduras
|
3
|
|
El Salvador
|
1
|
|
Nicaragua
|
4
|
|
Coasta Rica
|
8
|
|
Panama
|
18
|
Only a few of these species are widespread throughout Central
America. Among the most widespread are Dieffenbachia oerstedii
Schott which ranges from Mexico to Panama, and Dieffenbachia
longispatha Engler & K. Krause which ranges from Honduras to
Colombia. Relatively few of these Central American species of
Dieffenbachia range into South America. Only Dieffenbachia
longispatha, Dieffenbachia killipii and Dieffenbachia
isthmensis occur in both Central and South America.
This page was last updated on Fri, Jun 16, 2000 at 2:15:28 PM
by Tom Elgin with Userland Frontier.
