FLORA OF CERRADO- ACANTHACEAES: TAXONOMY AND POTENTIAL USE

Abstract

ACANTHACEAE SPECIES OCCUR ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY IN THE TROPICS AND SUBTROPICS WITH DISTRIBUTION IN FIVE CENTERS OF DIVERSITY AND RICHNESS: INDOMONASIA, ASIA, TROPICAL AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR, AND THE AMERICAS INCLUDING THE ANDES AND BRAZIL. IN BRAZIL, APPROXIMATELY 40 GENERA AND 500 SPECIES OCCUR IN BOTH OPEN AND FOREST AREAS. MOST OCCURRING IN THE FOREST FORMATIONS OF THE SOUTHEAST AND CENTER-WEST, MAINLY IN THE DRY FORESTS. THE TWO NEOTROPICAL GENERA OF GREATER EXPRESSIVENESS ARE JUSTICIA, WITH 350 TO 600 SPECIES AND RUELLIA, PRESENTING ABOUT 250 SPECIES. SOME FLORETS WERE MADE, HOWEVER THE HIGHLIGHT IS FOR THE FLORA OF THE STATE OF SANTA CATARINA. ACANTHACEAE ARE DESCRIBED AS HERBS, SUB-SHRUBS, SHRUBS OR VINES, RARELY SPROUTING. LEAVES SIMPLE, ALMOST ALWAYS OPPOSITE, DECUSSATE, USUALLY WITH CYSTOLITHS, WITHOUT STIPULES. INFLORESCENCES RACEMES, CIMOSAS, SPIKES, UMBELS, CHAPTERS, THIRSI, PANICLES OR SOLITARY FLOWERS, USUALLY WITH 1 BRACT AND 2 BRACTOLAS PER FLOWER, FOLIACEAE OR PETALOIDS, SOMETIMES COVERING THE COROLLA TUBE. HERMAPHRODITE FLOWERS, ZYGOMORPHS. THE FLORAL MORPHOLOGY FOR THE ACANTHACEAE TAXA WAS UNIFORM. THE MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION OF THE SPECIES WAS POSSIBLE BY ANALYZING THE TYPE OF INFLORESCENCE, FOLIAR MORPHOLOGY, AND THE STRIKING FEATURE OF THE GENUS JUSTICIA, CHARACTERIZED BY INFLORESCENCE WITH FLOWERS ON TOPS (OR SOMETIMES SOLITARY) SUBTENDED BY A LARGE BRACTEOUS AND FOLIACEOUS WITH WELL MARKED VEINS . FOR BETTER DELIMITATION OF INFRA-SPECIFIC TAXA ANATOMICAL, PHYTOCHEMICAL AND GENETIC STUDIES SHOULD BE PERFORMED.