The taxonomic status of closely related closed cone pines in Mexico and Central America

✍ Scribed by W. S. Dvorak; R. H. Raymond

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 797 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0169-4286
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00119208

✦ Synopsis

A taxonomic study on 14 cone and needle traits of 281 trees from 33 provenances of Pinus oocarpa, P. oocarpa var . ochoterenae, P. patula var . longipedunculata, P. patula var . patula and P. tecunumanii in Central America and Mexico was conducted to quantify the affinity between closely related species . A second objective was to determine the geographic range of P. tecunumanii in Mexico . Cluster analysis placed 52% of all provenances in taxa different from those assigned by field foresters . Trees from 15 provenances of what was locally known as Pinus oocarpa var . ochoterenae from Chiapas were statistically indistinguishable from high elevation Central American sources of P . tecuncumanii when assessed for cone and needle characteristics . However, trees from two provenances known locally as P. oocarpa var. ochoterenae from southwestern Oaxaca, Juquila and Tlacuache, were found to be distinct from P. tecunumanii and may be a variant of P. patula . Canonical discriminant analysis was used to determine the taxonomic affinity among newly formed clusters . The spatial (Mahalanobis) distance between P. tecunumanii and P. patula var. patula, P. patula var. longipedunculata, and P. oocarpa was 42.0, 44 .4, and 109.4 respectively, and highly significant . The geographic range of Pinus tecunumanii in Mexico appears to be confined to the state of Chiapas .

Application . The northern and western limit of the geographic range of Pinus tecunumanii is Chiapas, Mexico . Within the taxon were groups of several populations that were more morphologically related to each other than to neighboring populations in other subgroups . Morphological studies in combination with monoterpene analysis and genetic (DNA) research are needed to better understand the evolutionary history of the subgroups .