Acta Botánica Venezuelica
versión impresa ISSN 0084-5906
Resumen
VARELA R, Carlos W. The Meliaceae family in herbaria of Venezuela: Key for the Venezuelan genera. Acta Bot. Venez. [online]. 2010, vol.33, n.1, pp.137-150. ISSN 0084-5906.
The Meliaceae family is a very important group of plants in the tropics. This paper updates the state of knowledge of the family based on collections deposited in Venezuelan herbaria (VEN, PORT, MER, MY, MYF, TFAV), specially the ones available in the National Herbarium of Venezuela (VEN). The Meliaceae family is represented by ten genera and 46 species. Trichilia is the genus with the largest number of species (24), and Swietenia macrophylla the taxon with the largest number of specimens (165). Trichilia, Guarea and Swietenia are the most widely represented and distributed genera in the country, mainly in Bolívar, Amazonas and Barinas States. They grow between 0 and 2800 m asl, Cedrela and Guarea showed a wide range of altitudinal variation, while Azadirachta, Sandoricum and Schmardaea were more restricted. Cloud and semideciduous forests presented the largest number of genera, while Trichilia and Guarea occupied the widest variety of environments. A taxonomic key for Venezuelan genera are presented, based on herbarium material.
Palabras clave : Botanical collections; herbaria; Meliaceae; VEN; Venezuela.