ASPECTOS TAXONÓMICOS DE LA MORFOLOGÍA FLORAL MASCULINA DE Quercus (FAGACEAE) EN MÉXICO

Abstract

The vegetative morphological variability of the Quercus subgenus has been the subject of a significant number of studies for the definition of diagnostic taxonomic characters; however, information on the characteristics of the flowers of the Mexican species is very scarce; so this work aims to contribute to the taxonomic knowledge of Quercus through the study of the male floral morphology of ten species (Q. crassifolia, Q. crassipes, Q. dysophylla, Q. frutex, Q. hintonii, Q hypoxantha, Q. jonesii, Q. laurina, Q. obtusata and Q. repanda). Specimens collected by the authors and contained in the herbaria ARIZ, ENCB, IEB and MEXU were studied. Characteristics of the inflorescences, perianth and stamens were observed and recorded. The descriptions of the flowers were elaborated, photographs were obtained and a comparative table was made of the species with the characters considered diagnostic. The characters that provided taxonomic information for the delimitation of the species were: length of the inflorescence, number of flowers per inflorescence, presence or absence of floral peduncle, size of perianth, number of stamens, size of the filaments and anthers and presence or absence of the apical appendix.