Main | Family List (MO) | Family List (INBio) | Cutting Edge Draft Treatments | Guidelines | Checklist | Citing | Editors The Cutting Edge Volume VII, Number 1, January 2000 News and Notes | Recent Treatments | Leaps and Bounds | Germane Literature MYRSINACEAE. J. F. Morales (INB). The dust from the frenetic era of Cyrus Lundell has finally settled, at least where Costa Rican Myrsinaceae are concerned. When all is said and done (by Chico), we are left with a reasonable total of 60 spp., in six genera, in this undeniably difficult family. Ardisia s. l. (including Lundellian segregates Amatlania, Auriculardisia, Chontalesia, Graphardisia, Ibarraea, Icacorea, and Valerioanthus) accounts for the bulk (39 spp.), with Parathesis (8 spp.) a distant second. Twenty spp. are Costa Rican endemics: 15 spp. of Ardisia, three of Parathesis, and one each of Gentlea and Myrsine (including Rapanea). One sp. (of Myrsine) is given a provisional name, and nine infraspecific taxa are mentioned. Presented here for all the world to see, the sheer quantity of Lundell binomials applicable (mostly as synonyms) to Costa Rican Myrsinaceae is simply staggering. Of the 42 apparently heterotypic synonyms listed for the variable Ardisia compressa Kunth, 40 were coined by Lundell between 1941 and 1985. A unique situation is that of Ardisia standleyana P. H. Allen which, though dating only from 1956, stands as an accepted name, with 13 heterotypic synonyms (all Lundell names, published from 1968--1981). These examples omit mention of homotypic synonyms, of which virtually every heterotypic name in Ardisia has at least one (in one of the segregate genera enumerated above). SAPINDACEAE. J. F. Morales (INB). This contribution treats 21 genera, with a total of 90 spp.; three of the genera (Blighia, Melicoccus, and Nephelium) are represented only by a single, cultivated sp. (and Sapindus may also be introduced). By far the most diverse genera are Paullinia (29 spp.) and Serjania (21 spp.), both consisting exclusively of lianas; the arborescent (and arguably distinct) Cupania (9 spp) and Matayba (6 spp.) are next in line. Only six genera (Allosanthus, Cardiospermum, Paullinia, Serjania, Thinouia, and Urvillea) comprise vines or lianas, but these contain the majority (56) of the spp. Just eight spp. (three each of Cupania and Paullinia, one each of Pseudima and Serjania) are Costa Rican endemics. Three of the sp. names used here are still "ined." (two attributed to the author, one to T. D. Pennington). The application of the names Serjania inebrians Radlk. and S. pteropoda Standl. could not be resolved, though they are based on Costa Rican types.