Arenaria lanuginosa (Caryophyllaceae) en México: morfología foliar

Abstract

THE FIRST PART OF A STUDY ON THE LEAF MORPHOLOGY OF ARENARIA LANUGINOSA (MICHAUX) ROHRB. IS PRESENTED. THIS SPECIES HAS A WIDE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, FROM SOUTHWESTERN USA TO THE LATITUDE OF SAN JUAN AND CORDOBA, IN THE CENTRAL PART OF ARGENTINA. MATERIAL COLLECTED IN MEXICO, CLOSE TO ONE OF THE EXTREMES OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL AREA OCCUPIED BY THIS SPECIES AND DETERMINED BY ROHRBACH, WAS ANALYZED. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO LOOK FOR THE RELATION-SHIP BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT LEAF SHAPES (SUBORBICULATE, ELLIPSOID AND/OR OBLONG, AND LINEAR) AND OTHER LEAF ELEMENTS SUCH AS PUBESCENCE, LOWER AND UPPER EPIDERMIS, MARGINS, AND THE STOMATAL MORPHOLOGY; THESE FEATURES WERE SCARCELY USED TO SOLVE TAXONOMIC PROBLEMS WITHIN THIS FAMILY. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE FEATURE VARIATIONS ARE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION DONE BY ROHRBACH IN HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE SYSTEMATICS OF THE CARYOPHYLLINEN (1872), AS FOLLOWS: ELLIPSOID AND/OR OBLONG LEAVES IN ARENARIA LANUGINOSA VAR. LANUGINOSA, SUBORBICULATE LEAVES IN A. LANUGINOSA VAR. MAGALANTHA ROHRB. AND LINEAR LEAVES IN A. LANUGINOSA VAR. ENSIFOLIA ROHRB.