Turneraceae no estado do Maranhão, Brasil: estudo taxonômico e conservação.

Abstract

Turneraceae includes 14 genera and 232 species distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of America and Africa. In Brazil, the family is represented by the genera Oxossia L.Rocha., Piriqueta Aubl. and Turnera L. totaling 164 species, of which 116 are endemic to the country. In Maranhão, although many lists and floristic surveys have been published in recent years, taxonomic treatments focused on specific families are still scarce. Therefore, in order to contribute to the knowledge of the flora of Maranhão, we carried out a taxonomic survey of the Turneraceae species from Maranhão and indicated the conservation status of the inventoried species. In this study we present descriptions, identification keys and updated comments on the geographic distribution of species in the state. The treatment was based on morphological analysis of the materials from field expeditions and deposited in national and international herbaria whose collections are available online. The geographical distribution of the species is in accordance with data from field expeditions and information from the label sheets in herbaria, which are later represented on maps. The same coordinates data were used to indicate the conservation status of the species in Maranhão, following the IUCN criteria. Turneraceae is represented in Maranhão by 21 species distributed in two genera: Piriqueta (7 spp.) and Turnera (14 spp.). Nine species (~43%) are endemic to Brazil, among them T. carolina M.J.C Silva & L. Rocha, described in Chapter 1 of this volume, and T. stipularis Urb., a new record for Pará (available at Appendix I of this volume). Three species were recorded for the first time for the state: P. guianensis N.E.Br., T. aurantiaca Benth. and T. blanchetiana Urb. Turnera aurantiaca is also a new record for the Northeast region of Brazil. The Chapter II, the core of this dissertation, summarizes and describes all 21 spp. in a complete taxonomic treatment of the family for the state.