Floral indumentum of Miconia: in search of diagnostic characters for the tribe Miconieae

Abstract

The tribe Miconieae was composed of a few genera, such as Miconia, Clidemia, Leandra, and Ossaea, but recent works have recognized Miconia as the only genus of the tribe. The morphological diversity of trichomes in Melastomataceae have been employed for systematic purposes, especially the foliar indumentum. In the present paper, hypanthium trichomes of 24 species of Miconieae were investigated, 8 species of Miconia sensu stricto and 16 species of Leandra, as a contribution to the taxonomy of the tribe. Samples were obtained from herbarium and plant specimens collected in a state park in Paraná, Brazil. The hypanthium indumentum of the samples was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope. Our results revealed that long-peduncle stellate trichomes appear only within Miconias.s., while dendritic eglandular trichomes and glandular trichomes appear only in Leandra. Mixed trichomes with a lateral gland are less frequent and were found in both genera. It is not surprising, therefore, that the hypanthia of the investigated species possess indumentum of potential taxonomic significance. The characters of the indumentum of Miconia s.s., and Leandra may be useful in the infrageneric taxonomy of the new proposal for the tribe Miconieae.