Palynology of Amicia Kunth. (Leguminosae – Papilionoideae – Dalbergieae – Informal Adesmia clade) set in a systematic and phylogenetic context

Abstract

Amicia is the least diverse genus of the Adesmia clade. It has a disjunct distribution with six endemic species restricted to the central Andes of South America and one species endemic to Mexico. The phylogeny and taxonomy of this genus have been extensively studied. Nevertheless, pollen data are still insufficiently known within a taxonomic context. In this study, we analysed all Amicia species using light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy and we present phylogenetically useful palynological information to support taxonomic studies. Variation in pollen grain size and aperture features is used to delimit pollen types, which corroborate molecular and biogeographical data. Multivariate analysis reinforced the pollen type subdivisions and revealed novel diagnostic morphological features for two infrageneric taxa of Amicia. Our pollen results provide informative pollen characters to assist in the delimitation of Amicia species, which can be easily misidentified due to similarities in vegetative structures. Amicia pollen morphology reflects population isolation and divergence of Amicia lineages and provides critical features for future phylogenetic optimisation of the Adesmia clade.

Keywords:

• Central America
• Dalbergia clade
• Fabaceae
• Mexico
• pollen morphology
• South America
• ultrasculpture
• ultrastructure

View correction statement:

Correction

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to curators of the herbaria (E, K, MO, NY, US) who provided specimens for study. The authors thank the ‘Laboratório de Microscopia Eletrônica, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, Universidade de São Paulo’ coordinated by Prof. Dr Elliot Watanabe Kitajima, who made available a scanning electron microscope and the ‘Centro de Microscopia e Imagem, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba, Universidade de Campinas’ coordinated by Prof. Dr Pedro Duarte Novaes, for the use of a transmission electron microscope.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Specimens investigated

Amicia Kunth

Amicia andicola (Griseb.) Harms. Bolivia: Chuquisaca, Sucre. J.R.I. Wood 8092, 13 March 1994 (K 000556941). Bolivia: Chuquisaca, Oropeza. J.R.I. Wood 8097, 13 March 1994 (MO 100929458).

Amicia fimbriata Harms ex Kuntze. Bolivia: Chuquisaca, Zudañez. J.R.I. Wood 22400, 4 March 2066 (MO 100929849). Bolivia. Bridges s.n., s.d (K).

Amicia glandulosa Kunth. Ecuador: Loja – Catamayo, La Toma. G.P. Lewis 3185, 22 April 1997 (NY 01912662).

Amicia lobbiana Benth. ex Rusby. Peru: Huánuco, Ambo. J. Aronson, P.E.B. Aronson 603, 4 August 1978 (MO 72746). Peru: Cusco, Paucartambo. T.E. Särkinen 2244, 9 May 2007 (MO 100929430). Bolivia. T Särkinen 2145, 7 April 2007 (E 274126).

Amicia medicaginea Griseb. Bolivia: Potosí, Cornelio Saavedra. G. Torrico, C.P.T. Pardo 475, 29 April 1993 (MO 3352473).

Amicia micrantha Harms ex Kuntze. Bolivia: Chuquisaca, Zudañez. J.R.I. Wood 23303, 31 March 2007 (MO 10092966). Bolivia: Santa Cruz, Valle Grande. M. Dematteis 3636, 9 March 2009 (K).

Amicia zygomeris DC. México: Puebla, Zacapoaxtla. J.D. Amith 2687, 14 October 2015 (US 3740488). Mexico: Temascaltepec. G.B. Hinton 808, 27 May 1932 (K 000118237).

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (https://doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2023.2174293)

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed in part by the ‘Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior’ – Brazil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 (PhD Grant), awarded to HAD (process no 88882.444252/2019-01 and process no 23038.000815/202281, aux no 528/2021); and by the ‘Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico’ (CNPq), through a research fellowship awarded to CFPL under grant 304271/2019-5, and APM under grant 312602/2019-7. APFP thanks FAPESP (process no 2015/13386-0), CNPq (process no. 457911/2013-1; 400567/2016-4 and PQ 313945/2021-7) and CAPES Print (process no 8887.373155/2019-00, code 001) for funding a collecting expedition in Brazil and study visits to analyse samples in national and international herbaria.