Abstract
Morphological characteristics, as well as biometrics, govern the description of species. However, systematical comparative analyzes of these aspects between taxa are scarce. The aim of the work was to evaluate the relevance of these characteristics in species of Aphelandra. Leaves of A. longiflora, A. harleyi, A. espirito-santensis, A. nitida, A. sinclairiana and A. squarosa were collected and analyzed for morphologic patterns: phyllotaxis, texture, leaf blade form, symmetry, apex, base, margin, venation and coloring pattern; and for biometric parameters: total length, length and width of the leaf blade, length and diameter of the petiole. We calculated mean and standard deviations. Among the relevant morphological patterns are the shape of the blade, apex and base, and the biometric data showed differences. As conclusion, this analysis proposal proves to be an instrument of accuracy and detail for descriptions.
Highlights
Plant taxonomic descriptions are predominantly morphological and offer measurements indicating the dimensions of the structures presented, taxa comparative morphological and biometric approaches are scarce
A. harleyi Wassh., A. espirito-santensis Profice & Wassh., collected in the Reserva Natural Vale (RNV), which is located in the city of Linhares, State of Espírito Santo; A. nitida Ness & Mart. collected in Liberdade, a neighbourhood of the city of São Mateus, State of Espírito Santo; A. sinclairiana Nees ex Benth., collected at the Museu de Biologia Prof
For the biometrical analyses we evaluated the following parameters: total length, length and width of the leaf blade, length and diameter of the petiole, all using a graded centimetre rule and a digital pachymetre
Summary
Plant taxonomic descriptions are predominantly morphological and offer measurements indicating the dimensions of the structures presented, taxa comparative morphological and biometric approaches are scarce. This type of approach, in addition to giving more accuracy to taxa descriptions, can provide information and data usable for studies from autoecology to landscape ecology, and may be of interest for cultivation (Stuessy, 2009). As well, in Ruellia furcata (Nees) Lindau (Monteiro et al, 2020), exclusively on seeds’ morphology, we can cite the work with of Ruellia L. from an Atlantic Forest region of southeastern Brazil (Azevedo and Braz, 2018), of the Ruellieae tribe in Brazil (Azevedo and Moraes, 2020) and Ruellia elegans Poir seeds (Indriunas and Aoyama, 2020).
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