THE CUTTING EDGE

NEWS AND NOTES | RECENT TREATMENTS | LEAPS AND BOUNDS | GERMANE LITERATURE

APIACEAE. J. Francisco Morales (INB).
Among the 23 genera of this economically important family here treated are seven (Ammi, Anethum, Apium, Conium, Coriandrum, Foeniculum, and Petroselinum) known from Costa Rica by a single cultivated sp. Two other cultivated spp. (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancr. and Daucus carota L.) are represented in the total of 41 spp. attributed to the country. The most diverse genus is Hydrocotyle, with 11 spp., followed distantly by Eryngium (4 spp.). Just three spp. are endemic: Hydrocotyle "sp. A" (the only sp. given a provisional name), of Isla del Coco, H. bowlesioides Mathias & Constance, and H. torresiana Rose & Standl. One sp., Hydrocotyle verticillata Thunb., is included hypothetically.

BIXACEAE. J. Francisco Morales (INB).
The family is here construed in the more usual sense, that is, exclusive of Cochlospermum, deferred to Cochlospermaceae. As such Bixaceae is monogeneric, with only Bixa, of which two spp. are treated for Costa Rica: Bixa orellana L., the familiar achiote or annatto, cultivated and occasionally escaped; and B. urucurana Willd., indigenous in secondary and riparian forests in the lowlands of both slopes.

HIPPOCRATEACEAE. J. P. Hedin (MO).
The Hippocrateaceae are circumscribed in the traditional manner, as a single unit apart from Celastraceae, "as a matter of convenience," although the author allows that they "probably do belong in Celastraceae [and] may not form a monophyletic group." All 12 genera occurring in the Neotropics are represented among the 19 spp. reported from Costa Rica, each by a single sp. except for Salacia (5 spp.), Cheiloclinium, Hylenaea, and Pristimera (2 spp. apiece). Just three Costa Rican spp. of this largely lianescent family comprise arborescent or shrubby plants: Cheiloclinium cognatum (Miers) A. C. Sm., Salacia petenensis Lundell, and Semialarium mexicanum (Miers) Mennega. There are no Costa Rican endemics.

JUGLANDACEAE. J. Francisco Morales (INB).
Three genera are treated, including Juglans, represented only by the cultivated J. olanchana Standl. & L. O. Williams. Alfaroa and Oreomunnea comprise five and two Costa Rican spp., respectively, with A. guanacastensis D. E. Stone, A. manningii J. León, and O. pterocarpa Oerst. regarded as endemic. The only noteworthy differences from Donald E. Stone's (1977) Flora costaricensis contribution (Fieldiana, Bot. 40: 28-­p;53) are the formal treatment of Juglans and the addition of Alfaroa mexicana D. E. Stone [see The Cutting Edge 5(3): 4, Jul. 1998].

MARANTACEAE. Helen Kennedy (UBC).
This family is represented in Costa Rica by 55 indigenous spp., of which 40 belong to a single genus, Calathea. None of the eight remaining genera has more than three spp. Sixteen spp. (14 in Calathea, two in Stromanthe) are indicated as endemic, and numerous others are restricted to southern Central America. Four spp. (three in Calathea, one in Stromanthe) are denoted by provisional or unpublished names. This treatment includes no taxa of hypothetical occurrence in Costa Rica, and none known only in cultivation.

RANUNCULACEAE. J. Francisco Morales (INB).
The nine spp. attributed to Costa Rica are divided among three genera, Clematis (2 spp.), Ranunculus (6 spp.), and Thalictrum (1 sp.). Thalictrum lankesteri Standl., from about the Meseta Central, is our only endemic. No cultivated spp. are here treated.