Comparative Foliar Anatomy of South American Proteaceae

Abstract

The family Proteaceae Knight is represented in South America by over 100 species that belong to eight genera, all Grevilleoideae. Nine species that represent all of the tribes established by Johnson and Briggs (1975) that occur in South America were studied: Embothrium coccineum, Lomatia dentata, L. ferruginea, L. hirsuta, Gevuina avellana, Roupala mollis, R. montana, Panopsis polystachia and Orites myrtoidea. We found anatomical and structural similarities between these species and the taxonomic scheme proposed by Johnson and Briggs (1975). In the Embothrieae, each species of Lomatiinae exhibits individual structural features, although in every case, there is at least one or more feature shared with the Embothriinae; suggesting a common phylogenetic origin, whereas E. coccineum preserves a larger number of ancestral features. Of the three subtribes of Macadamineae, the Roupalinae are a natural group with individual features, the Gevuininae share a few characters with the Lomatiinae and the Macadamiinae with the Oriteae. This last one is the most peculiar, although it shares a few characters with Embothrieae and Macadamieae.