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Australian Systematic Botany Australian Systematic Botany Society
Taxonomy, biogeography and evolution of plants
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Can fruit ontogenetic features prove to be an important tool in the circumscription of Psychotrieae alliance?

Anderson F. Santos https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1848-1696 A D , Amanda A. O. do Carmo A , Vanessa C. Harthman B , Mariza B. Romagnolo A C and Luiz A. Souza A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Plant Histotechnical Laboratory, Graduate Program of Comparative Biology, Maringá State University (UEM), 87020-900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil.

B Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), Pantanal Campus, 79304-902, Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

C Center of Biological Sciences, Research Nucleus in Limnology, Ichthyology and Aquaculture (Nupélia), UEM, 87020-900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil.

D Corresponding author. Email: andersonf.santos@hotmail.com

Australian Systematic Botany 34(6) 527-540 https://doi.org/10.1071/SB20020
Submitted: 17 July 2020  Accepted: 3 July 2021   Published: 8 September 2021

Abstract

The Rubiaceae tribe Psychotrieae sensu lato and its two largest genera, Psychotria L. and Palicourea Aubl., have been considered taxonomically controversial for a long time. We aimed to identify structural features of the ontogeny of the fruits and seeds with taxonomic potential for the tribe by using species of these two genera, and Rudgea jasminoides (Cham.) Müll.Arg. The samples were obtained from a herbarium and from Brazilian state parks, and sectioned by using a rotation microtome. The fruits were found to be derived from an inferior ovary, and were characterised by a fleshy mesocarp and sclerenchymatic sinuate pyrene. The seeds were pachychalazal and arillate. The fruit was classified as a pomaceous drupoid nuculanium. The investigation showed the utility of some fruit features to discriminate species. Our study also showed that ontogenetic features of fruits and seeds are very homogeneous in Palicourea and Psychotria, which supports the inclusion of both genera in the tribe Psychotrieae.

Keywords: aril, ontogeny, pachychalazal seed, pomaceous fruit, pyrene.


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