Abstract
The southern distributional limit of Burmeistera has long been obscured by the inclusion in that genus of several disharmonious elements from central and southern Peru. Of the six Peruvian species that have previously been assigned to Burmeistera, only B. ramosa is retained in that genus. The recent collection of B. microphylla brings the number of Peruvian species of Burmeistera to two. The southernmost stations known for these two species, and thus the genus as a whole, are at approximately 5'50'S in San Martin Department of northern Peru. Burmeistera Triana is a well-delimited neotropical genus of Lobelioideae distinguished from other baccate-fruited genera by the combination of oblong or linear seeds, oblique and distally open anther tubes, and mostly nonbracteolate pedicels. The typically distorted, greenish to maroon corollas make the genus easily recognizable in the field. However, complex morphological patterns, in particular extreme local differentiation, render it taxonomically challenging at the species level. Burmeistera is found primarily in montane wet forests from Chiapas, Mexico south to Venezuela and Peru, with its center of diversity in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. The southern distributional limits of the genus have been problematic, owing to the questionable inclusion of several central and southern Peruvian taxa. This paper clarifies the status of Burmeistera in Peru and establishes its currently known southern lim-
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