Title
Floral morphology and anatomy of Fagus grandifolia subsp. Mexicana (Fagaceae), an endangered-relict tree of the Mexican montane cloud forest
Other title
[Anatomía y morfología floral de Fagus grandifolia subsp. Mexicana (Fagaceae), Un árbol relicto-endémico del bosque mesófilo de montaña de México]
Date Issued
01 April 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Sociedad Botanica de Mexico, A.C
Abstract
Background: This study is the first to examine the inflorescence, staminate and pistillate flowers of the Mexican beech, an endangered-relict tropical montane cloud tree species. Questions: Are there morphological and anatomical differences in the inflorescence and flowers of Mexican beech in comparison with other beech species worldwide? Study species: Fagus grandifolia subsp. mexicana (Martínez) A.E. Murray. Study site and dates: Five Mexican beech stands from eastern Mexico, early February to early March 2017 and 2020. Methods: 400 Mexican beech floral buds and immature pistillate and staminate flowers in anthesis were collected and processed by light microscopy analysis and the pollen by scanning electron microscopy. Results: We found floral morphology and anatomy differences of this southernmost American beech species, with respect to the New- and Old-World taxa. The inflorescence morphology of the Mexican beech is similar to some Asian beeches such as F. hayatae subsp. pashanica, F. lucida and F. longipetiolata. Notwithstanding, the anatomy of the staminate and pistillate flowers are similar to that of F. grandifolia from Canada and the United States of America, F. sylvatica from Europe and F. crenata from Japan. Conclusions: The inflorescence and floral anatomical and morphological differences can be explained by possible hybridizations. Since only the pistillate and staminate flowers of F. sylvatica and F. grandifolia have been studied in detail, morphological, molecular and ecological studies of the Asian beech species are needed to achieve a better understanding of the evolution of these species and their relationship with the Mexican beech.
Volume
1
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Conservación de la Biodiversidad
Ciencias de las plantas, Botánica
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85105371480
Source
Botanical Sciences
ISSN of the container
20074298
Sponsor(s)
We are grateful to Susana Guzmán Gómez (Laboratorio de Microscopía y Fotografía de la Biodiversidad II, In-stituto de Biología, UNAM) for technical assistance with the digital photographs. The first author also thanks the financial support granted by the postdoctoral fellowship DGAPA-UNAM 2016-2017. Carlos Solís-Hay and Othón Alcántara gave us technical assistance in the field. Finally, we thank Thomas Denk for suggestions on an earlier version of the paper and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This research was supported by the PAPIIT IN220621 and IN223218 projects.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus