Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador

By Peter M. Jørgensen

The Catalogue follows the taxonomic systems of Tryon and Tryon (1985) for the ferns and fern allies, Cronquist (1981) for the dicotyledons, and Dahlgren et al. (1985) for the monocotyledons. Author abbreviations for genera and species follow Brummitt and Powell (1992); this index has also been used to standardize the collectors (full last name with the initials according to Brummitt & Powell, 1992). Herbarium acronyms follow Holmgren et al. (1990).

The family name is given with the author and reviewer of the treatment. Occasionally, when a family has been subdivided along tribal or generic lines, authorship is then given to the genera. For each family the numbers of genera, species, and endemic species are provided. These numbers include all accepted taxa, i.e., native, introduced, and expected species. The genera appear with the number of accepted and endemic species. Accepted species are presented in boldface-italics and have been confirmed by a literature citation or by one or more vouchers, one of which is cited. An attempt has been made to cite the most relevant literature, and the herbaria AAU, F, GB, MO, NY, QCA, QCNE, S, and US have been consulted (for most herbaria only in part) for vouchers. If the type of the accepted name is from Ecuador, it is also cited.

Synonyms appear in italics following the accepted name; they are not cross-referenced, i.e., there are no separate entries for the synonyms. An index to all synonyms is provided. Synonymy presented in the Flora of Ecuador is not repeated unless it has changed since its publication. For families not yet covered by the Flora of Ecuador, an attempt has been made to cite "relevant" synonyms; relevant is to be understood as all names published on Ecuadorian material and names that have been used for vouchers in the herbaria consulted. Basionyms or replaced names are always listed as synonyms.

The Flora of Ecuador reference is indicated as "Fl. Ec." followed by the volume, page number, and year. Author and year of publication are listed for other references used in evaluating the taxon. These general references are cited to provide access to more complete information about the species and/or the basis for its inclusion in the Catalogue.

Accepted infraspecific taxa that occur in Ecuador are listed; no separate entries are made for these taxa nor are they indexed or counted in the Catalogue. Information on habit, provenance, region, and elevation is provided. In many cases this information may be incomplete due to lack of knowledge. The system devised to record the habit of the species is rather pragmatic. It has been designed to be as simple as possible, so all species can be assigned a habit, and the classes used follow what most frequently is noted on the labels of plant specimens. The habit types are herb, subshrub, shrub, treelet, tree, vine, liana, epiphyte, parasite, hemiepiphyte, aquatic, saprophyte, or combinations of the above.

The provenance is divided into endemic, native, cultivated, and introduced; these are sometimes combined, e.g., introduced and cultivated. Endemic is taken here to mean restricted to the territory of Ecuador.

The regions used are Galápagos, Coastal, Andean, and Amazonian. Galápagos includes all the Galápagos Islands. The Coastal and Amazonian regions are defined as the areas below 1,000 m elevation west and east of the Andes, respectively. The Andean region is defined as the area of mainland Ecuador above 1,000 m.

The elevation has been divided into 500-m zones, in most cases indicated as lower and upper limits. Disjunct elevation distributions are indicated by two elevation ranges, e.g., 0–1,000 m and 2,000–2,500 m.

Distribution within Ecuadorian provinces is compiled from literature and herbarium vouchers. The provinces are listed in alphabetic order and the following abbreviations are used: Azuay = AZU, Bolívar = BOL, Cañar = CAÑ, Carchi = CAR, Chimborazo = CHI, Cotopaxi = COT, El Oro = ORO, Esmeraldas = ESM, Galápagos = GAL, Guayas = GUA, Imbabura = IMB, Loja = LOJ, Los Ríos = RIO, Manabí = MAN, Morona-Santiago = MOR, Napo = NAP, Pastaza = PAS, Pichincha = PIC, Sucumbíos = SUC, Tungurahua = TUN, Zamora-Chinchipe = ZAM. Provinces are listed in the Catalogue in alphabetical order by their complete name.

One representative voucher is cited for each species, except where the type material was collected in Ecuador; then both the type and an additional voucher are cited. The vouchers are cited using the collector's name and collection number, followed by the herbarium acronym. The criteria used to select a voucher were that it should be representative for the species in Ecuador and distributed in a wide range of herbaria, including preferably an Ecuadorian herbarium. An exclamation mark indicates a collection seen by the author(s) or editors. When no Ecuadorian collection of the species has been located, the basis for inclusion is the cited literature or note.

Misinterpreted or dubious names appear in square brackets. The note line explains whether the name is dubious or a misinterpretation. A note is included for additional information when necessary. Notes are also included at the generic level, e.g., when the estimated number of species differs considerably from the documented number.

For this Catalogue, an attempt was made to include all species described for Ecuador published prior to October 1, 1998. Between that date and the publication date of the Catalogue, coverage of newly described species is not complete, due to the inevitable time lag between manuscript preparation and publication.