Dioecy and a Reevaluation of Lepidocordia and Antrophora (Boraginaceae: Ehretioideae)

Abstract

The close relationship between two monotypic genera, Lepidocordia from northern South America, and Antrophora from Central America, is reevaluated in light of numerous recent collections. It was discovered that Lepidocordia punctata and A ntrophora williamsii are dioecious and each species appears to have two floral morphs, pistillate and staminate. The original descriptions of L. punctata and of A. williamsii were based on very limited collections that represented only opposite morphs, thus creating an exaggerated and artificial distinction between the two genera. New data from leaf architecture, pollen morphology, and fruit anatomy, as well as this distinctive breeding system, support their congeneric treatment. Antrophora is reduced to Lepidocordia, and A. williamsii now becomes L. williamsii. Lepidocordia is best retained in the Ehretioideae, but it and Rochefortia (3 spp) are the only dioecious genera in this subfamily, and thus quite distinct.