Flora of Espírito Santo: Papaveraceae

Abstract

Papaveraceae comprises 40 genera and approximately 770 species. In Brazil, it is represented by four genera and eight species, all cultivated or naturalized. In the state of Espírito Santo, the family is represented by Argemone mexicana, for which we present the morphological description, geographical distribution, photographs, and comments.

Key words
Argemone mexicana; Atlantic forest; flora of Brazil; naturalized; taxonomy

Resumo

Papaveraceae compreende 40 gêneros e aproximadamente 800 espécies. No Brasil está representada por quatro gêneros e oito espécies, todas elas exóticas, cultivadas ou naturalizadas. No Espírito Santo, a família está representada por Argemone mexicana, para a qual apresentamos a descrição morfológica, distribuição geográfica no estado, fotografias e comentários.

Palavras-chave
Argemone mexicana; Mata Atlântica; flora do Brasil; espécies exóticas; taxonomia

Introduction

Papaveraceae (Ranunculales) comprises 40 genera and 800 species (Kadereit 1993; Mingli et al. 2008). The family is prevalent in north temperate regions and has East Asia and West North America as the main centers of dispersion (Kadereit 1993). The family is nowadays recognized to encompass the families Fumariaceae and Pteridophyllaceae (APG IV 2016).

In Brazil, Papaveraceae is represented by four genera and eight species: Argemone mexicana Linnaeus (1753: 508), Chelidonium majus Linnaeus (1753: 505), Eschscholzia californica Chamisso (1820: 74), Papaver bracteatum Lindley (1821: 23), P. nudicaule Linnaeus (1753: 507), P. orientale Linnaeus (1753: 508), P. rhoeas Linnaeus (1753: 507) and P. somniferum Linnaeus (1753: 508) (BFG 2015; Hassemer 2020). All the species are exotic and cultivated except for A. mexicana, which is naturalized. In recent decades, among the investigations conducted with Papaveraceae in Brazil, a taxonomic approach was only adopted in the description of the family in the regional flora of the state of São Paulo (Souza et al. 2002). Argemone mexicana is the only species reported in the state of Espírito Santo (Dutra et al. 2015; Hassemer 2020). The species is known as cardo-santo (in portuguese and spanish) and the infusion of its stems and leaves is used in folk medicine to treat asthma, conjunctivitis, eczema, and boils (Messias et al. 2015). Furthermore, studies have shown antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antistress, antiallergic, anthelmintic, nematicidal, larvicidal, antioxidant, antidiabetic, wound healing, antifertility, anticancer and anti-HIV activities (Caetano et al. 2002; Singh et al. 2009).

Argemone comprises 29 species and occurs mainly in North America and West Indies. In South America, the genus is reported with four native species: A. rosea Hooker (1831: 207) and A. crassifolia Ownbey (1961: 97), native to Chile; A. hunnemannii Otto & Dietrich (1833: 298) native to Chile and naturalized in Argentina, and A. subfusiformis Ownbey (1961: 97) native to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay (Ownbey 1961; Petenatti & Del Vitto 2001; Zhang et al. 2008; Zuloaga et al. 2019). Native from Central and North America, A. mexicana is naturalized in Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania, being reported in all South American countries (Ownbey 1958, 1961; Peña 2002; Funk et al. 2007; Edwards 2014). Argemone mexicana is reported throughout the Brazilian territory, except in the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Pará, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins (BFG 2015; Hassemer 2020).

This work aims to present the treatment of A. mexicana in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, along with the morphological description, geographical distribution, photographs, and comments on the species.

Material and Methods

The study was based on the analysis of collections deposited in the following herbaria, through visits, virtual herbaria and loan requests: MBM, MBML, P, RB, SPF, VIES (Thiers, continuously updated). The terminology followed Barroso et al. (1999) and Harris & Harris (2003) for general morphology, and Ownbey (1958, 1961) and Khadereit (1993) for specific characters of the family. Geographic distribution maps were based on the examined material.

Results and Discussion

One species of Papaveraceae, A. mexicana, is registered in Espírito Santo, no information on cultivation of other species is available. The species occurs in plantations, open fields, forest edges, and with greater occurrence in anthropized areas. It was recorded in the municipalities of Vitória and Vila Velha.

Papaveraceae Juss.

Annual or biennial herbs or shrubs, laticifers present. Leaves alternate or in a basal rosette, rarely opposite or whorled, usually without stipules, leaf blade entire to compound. Inflorescences racemes, panicles, dichasia, or solitary flowers. Flowers actinomorphic or zygomorphic, always bisexual, usually 2-merous, rarely 3–4-merous, calyx caducous, green, corolla rarely absent, stamens free, usually numerous, anthers opening by slits, ovary superior, syncarpous with 2 to many carpels, placentation parietal. Fruit capsule, dry.

Argemone mexicana L., Sp. Pl. 1: 508. 1753. Type: without data, location and collector (lectotype: LINN 607.1). Lectotypified by Fawcett & Rendle (1914). Figs. 1-2

Figure 1
a-d. Argemone mexicana in Americana, SP, Brazil – a. habit; b. fruit; c. flower; d. leaf. Photos: D. A. Zavatin.

Figure 2
Distribution map of Argemone mexicana in the state of Espírito Santo represented by black dots. State acronyms: RJ = Rio de Janeiro; ES = Espírito Santo; MG = Minas Gerais; BA = Bahia.

Herbs, annual or occasionally short-lived perennial, 30–45 cm tall, spiny, yellow lactiferous, stems mostly erect. Leaves alternate, lobate, lobes dentate; blade broadly oblanceolate, obovate or elliptic, 4–15 × 3.6–9.2 cm, glabrous, glaucous, paler abaxially, spiny on veins, base cuneate, margin pinnatipartite, apex acute; lobes spiny, petiole ca. 6 mm. Flowers solitary, sometimes in few-flowered cymes, trimerous, receptacles narrowly conical. Sepals 1–3, cymbiform, apex with horned appendices. Petals 6, free, yellow, broadly obovate, 1.5–2.3 cm, base broadly cuneate, apex rounded. Stamens many, free, filaments ca. 2.5 mm, free, yellow, anthers narrowly oblong, 0.5–1 mm, yellow. Carpels 4–6, ovary ellipsoid or oblongoid, with explanate fulvous spines; styles ca. 2.5 mm; stigmas free, 4–6-lobed, ovules many. Capsule oblongoid to broadly ellipsoid, 1.5–3.5 × 0.8–1.6 cm, sparsely fulvous spiny, 4–6-valved dehiscing from apex. Seeds many, spheroidal.

Material examined: Vila Velha, 16.VI.1983, fl. and fr., B. Weinberg 897 (SPF). Vitória, Maruípe, 17.X.1986, fl. and fr., A.C.T. Dias (VIES1074); Ilha de Trindade, 23.I.1992, J.M.L.Gomes 1761 (VIES); VI.1997, R.J.V. Alves 5862 (R); terraço acima da Enseada dos Portugueses, 25.XII.1965, fl. and fr., J. Becker (P02308331, R010010672).

The species can be easily recognized by the herbaceous habit, presence of spines in stem and leaves, deeply lobed glaucous leaves with glaucous venation, a yellow corolla with petals that are easily detached on handling, oblong capsule fruits with spines. In Espírito Santo, the species was found in coastal areas, crops, open fields, forest edges, and other anthropized areas, and few specimens were collected with flowers in January, June, October, November, and December.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the curators of the consulted herbaria. EJL thanks Capes, for the granting of a scholarship (88887.595447/2020-00).

References

• APG IV - Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2016) An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 181: 1-20.
• Barroso GM, Morim MP, Peixoto AL & Ichaso CLF (1999) Frutos e sementes: morfologia aplicada à Sistemática de Dicotiledôneas. Editora UFV, Viçosa. 443p.
• BFG - The Brazil Flora Group (2015) Growing knowledge: an overview of seed plant diversity in Brazil. Rodriguésia 66: 1085-1113.
• Caetano N, Saraiva A, Pereira R, Carvalho D, Pimentel MCB & Maia MBS (2002) Determinação de atividades antimicrobiana de extratos de plantas de uso popular como antiinflamatório. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia 12: 132-135.
• Chamisso LKA (1820) Ex Plantis, in expeditione Romanzoffiana detectis, genera tria nova. In: Esenbeck CG (ed.) Horae Physicae Berolinenses. Adolphi Marcus, Bonn. Pp. 71-76.
• Dutra VF, Alves-Araújo A & Carrijo TT (2015) Angiosperm checklist of Espírito Santo: using electronic tools to improve the knowledge of an Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot. Rodriguésia 66: 1145-1152.
• Edwards SL (2014) Neotropical Papaveraceae. In: Milliken W, Klitgard B & Baracat A (eds.) Neotropikey - interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. Available at <http://www.kew.org/science/tropamerica/neotropikey/families/Papaveraceae.htm>. Access on 4 March 2021.
  » http://www.kew.org/science/tropamerica/neotropikey/families/Papaveraceae.htm
• Fawcett W & Rendle AB (1904) Flora of Jamaica, containing descriptions of the flowering plants known from the island. British Museum, London. 222p.
• Funk VA, Hollowell TH, Berry PE, Kelloff CL & Alexander S (2007) Checklist of the plants of the Guiana Shield (Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro; Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana). Contributions from the United States Natural Herbarium 55: 1-584.
• Harris JG & Harris MW (2003) Plant identification terminology: an illustrated glossary. Spring Lake Publisher, Spring Lake. 216p.
• Hassemer G (2020) Papaveraceae. In: Flora do Brasil 2020. Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Available at <http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/floradobrasil/FB126838>. Access on 24 February 2021.
  » http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/floradobrasil/FB126838
• Hooker WL (1831) Figures and descriptions of such plants as recommend themselves by their novelty, rarity, or history. John Murray, London. 421p.
• Kadereit JW (1993) Papaveraceae. In: Kubitzki K, Rohwer JG & Bittrich V (eds.) The families and genera of vascular plants. Vol. 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. Pp. 494-506.
• Lindley J (1821) Figures and botanical illustrations of rare and curious exotic plants. Collectanea Botanica 5: 23-25.
• Linnaeus C (1753) Species Plantarum. Vol. 1. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm. 560p.
• Messias MCTB, Menegatto MF, Prado ACC, Santos BR & Guimarães MFM (2015) Uso popular de plantas medicinais e perfil socioeconômico dos usuários: um estudo em área urbana em Ouro Preto, MG, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Plantas Medicinais 17: 76-104.
• Mingli YSKZ, Zhiyun S, Lidén M & Grey-Wilson C (2008) Papaveraceae. In: Wu Z, Raven PH & Hong D (eds.) Flora of China. Vol. 7. Science Press, Pequim / Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis. Pp. 261-428.
• Otto F & Dietrich A (1833) Allgemeine gartenzeitung. Berlas der Haudjen Bukbanblung, Berlin. 414p.
• Ownbey GB (1958) Monograph of the genus Argemone for North America and the West Indies. Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club 21: 1-159.
• Ownbey GB (1961) The genus Argemone in South America and Hawaii. Brittonia 13: 91-109.
• Peña RC (2002) El género Argemone (Papaveraceae) en Chile. Chloris Chilensis 5: 5-18.
• Petenatti EM & Del Vitto LA (2001) Papaveraceae Adans. In: Hunziker AT (ed.) Flora Fanerogámica Argentina. Vol. 104. CONICET, Córdoba. Pp. x-18.
• Singh SK, Pandey VD, Singh A & Singh C (2009) Antibacterial activity of seed extracts of Argemone mexicana L. on some pathogenic bacterial strains. African Journal of Biotechnology 8: 7077-7081.
• Souza JP, Souza VC & Joaquim-Jr GO (2002) Papaveraceae. In: Wanderley MGL, Shepherd GJ, Giulietti AM, Melhem TS, Kameyama C & Bittrich V (eds.) Flora fanerogâmica do estado de São Paulo. Instituto de Botânica, São Paulo. Vol. 2, pp. 223.
• Zuloaga F, Belgrano M & Zanotti C (2019) Actualización del Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur. Darwiniana, Nueva Serie 7: 208-278.

Edited by

Area Editor: Dra. Valquíria Dutra

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  07 Mar 2022
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  05 Mar 2021
• Accepted
  20 July 2021