l - CNCFlora

Volume 91, Number 4
2004
Table 3. Continued.
Species treated by A. Engler (1915)
D. seguine var. Iingulata (Martius) Engl.
D. seguine var. Iingulata subvar. irrorata
(Mart.) Engl.
D. seguine var. Iiturata (Schott) Engl.
D. seguine var. Iiturata subvar. wallisii (Linden)
Engl.
D. seguine var. nobilis (Hort. Verschaff.) Engl.
D. seguine var. robusta (K. Koch) Engl.
D. seguine var. ventenatiana (Schott) Engl.
D. seguine var. zziridis Engl.
26 D weberbaueri Engl
27 D weirii Berkl
.
Croat
Revision of Dieffenbachia
Origin
Suriname & Brazil
Brazil
Unknown
Unknown
Brazil
Unknown
Murlname
Widespread in West
Indies, Central and
South America
Peru
Colombia
As treated in this manuscript
D. seguine (Jacq.) Schott
D. seguine (Jacq.) Schott
D. seguine (Jacq,) Schott
D seguine (Jacq,) Schott
D seguine (Jacq,) Schott
D seguine (Jacq,) Schott
D seguine (Jacq,) Schott
D seguine (Jacq,) Schott
udicola N. E. Br. ex Gleason from Guayana, and inaccuracy was in part due to a poor understanding
Jonker and Jonker (1966) described D. elegans A. of the collections that existed at the time, but also
M. E. Jonker 8 Jonker for Suriname. Three species to the fact that most collections of Araveae have
were described from Venezuela, D. 1:volivarana G. been made in the last 25 years. Panama, for ex-
S. Bunting (Bunting, 1963), D. Iiesneri Croat, and ample, has shown vast increases in the number of
D. Iongil)istil(l Croat (Croat 8 Lambert, 1987). An- spevies eollected and identified sinc e the treatment
other Venezuelan spee ies, D. duiflae (Steyerm.) G. of Araveae in the Flor(l oJ P(ln(lm(l. Some genera
S. Bunting was transferle(l (Bunting, 19238) frorr have inereased t)y nearly 544Wo sinee 1944 (Croat,
S)athis ar/)(l (lui(l(le Steyerm., (les( rit)e(l in 1 951 . L985). I)iefRnl)(l(/li(l now has 2G sl)e( ies re( ogl)iefienl)(lchi(l
has been so e onfusing that floristi nize(l for Central Ameri( a with 77% of them new
ae(ounts (lealing with Central Ameri( a have })eell to seien( e sinee work on the revisioll })egan. 'l'his
of little value. Herllsley (188tS) liste(l only a single re^)resents a 40()z7So inelease from the nlln-l})er lespe(ies,
D. oer.ste(lii S(hott, fol his Hiologi(l Cell- I)orte(l in Central Amerie a ly )revious workers (Entr(lli-Americ(lrl(l.
Engler (191tS) rel)orte(l only five gler 1915; Stan(lley, 1937, 1944; Standley d Steyspe(ies
for (3entral Ameriva, D. oerste(lii, D. (IU- ermark, 1958; Matuda, :1954; Bunting, 19G5).
r(lntiac(l Ellgl., D. /)ittieri, D. Iongi.s/)ath(ln D. se- Standley's treatment of the Araveae of the Languine,
an(l D. leo/)ol(lii Bull. The first four were cetilla Va11ey (Stan(11ey, 1931) deait with only 2
properly eir(ums(ril)e(l largely owing to the faet spee ies, D. oerstedii, which was at least in part corthat
he was dealing with little beyond the type rectly determined, and D. seguine, 1)robably D.
speeimens. Dieffenl)achia leopoldii has proven to be standleyi Croat in the present treatment. However,
a species known only from Colombia. The only in the case of the latter species he did not mention
plants Engler (1915) called D. seguine were from the almost fully sheathed petiole that is so distinc-
E1 Salvador the type country of D. wendlandii, tive on D. standleyi. Standley also confused D. sewhich
he erroneously synonymized with D. seguine. guin.e with other species, mentioning that it ranged
Dieffenbachia wendlandii differs from D. seguine in to E1 Salvador (probably D. wendlandii) and to the
having unilocular ovaries, and a long-tapered spa- West Indies (referring to the real D. seguine).
dix that does not protrude forward at anthesis, as The treatment of the Araceae in the Flora of
is the case with D. seguine.
Guatemala (Standley & Steyermark, 1958) is es-
Matuda (1954) reported only D. seguine for Mex- pecially confusing. In this treatment they dealt with
ico, whereas Bunting (1965) reported both D. se- four names, D. oerstedii, D. picta (Lodd.) Schott, a
guine and D. oerstedii for Mexico, the latter being maculate species that I consider synonymous with
a new report. One of the species that Bunting was D. seguine and not occurring in Central America,
dealing with, which he named as D. seguine, is rec- and D. pittieri, which I consider to be a narrow
ognized herein as D. wendlandii.
endemic in the Canal Zone of Panama. Since they
These earlier floristic accounts for Central Amer- did not cite specimens, it is difficult to interpret
ica, in addition to being inaccurate, also grossly their treatment, but their description of D. pittieri
undercounted the number of existing species. This with a petiole sheathed almost to the apex and
673