Homegardens are small-scale agroforestry systems consisting of parcels of land on homesteads in which diverse plant species are cultivated in several strata, often integrating herbaceous, tree, vine, crop, and animal components. Among the vines in Mayan homegardens in Yucatán is the pitahaya (Hylocereus undatus), a cactus with edible fruit. We use this species as a model to identify changes in the level of knowledge and management of homegardens due to modernization (increased tourism, paved roads, and urban expansion) in order to propose conservation strategies. Structured interviews were carried out in 100 homegardens; information regarding economics, language, school attendance, and the distance to cities were gathered. Currently, pitahaya is mostly eaten as a sorbet, and women harvest its fruit more often than men do. It is the elderly who teach the next generations about the use and care of pitahayas. The model that best explained the level of knowledge and management about pitahaya included variables such as the location of homegardens; their distance to the nearest city; as well as language, gross domestic product, and school attendance rate of home gardeners. We found that there is less traditional knowledge about pitahayas when home gardeners have higher school attendance and that not only pitahayas but also homegardens near cities are being neglected. We suggest that conservation planning for pitahayas and homegardens should include education programs on their ecological, nutritional, and economic importance. Homegardens, whose owners have the highest level of knowledge about their management and biodiversity, should be interactively conserved, and the knowledge of home gardeners should be acknowledged.

En el presente estudio se describen los sitios de manejo y la fl ora leñosa asociada a Oecopetalum mexicanum (cachichín) en la Sierra de Misantla, Veracruz; así como la recolección, el uso y la estimación de los frutos con base en muestreos de vegetación, entrevistas y observaciones de campo. El cachichín crece en cuatro tipos de manejo: selva, cachichinal (selva dominada por O. mexicanum), cafetal y huerto. Los muestreos de vegetación se llevaron a cabo en seis parcelas distribuidas en los primeros tres tipos de manejo, en una superfi cie total de 0.3 ha, fueron considerados todos los individuos ≥ 1 cm a la altura del pecho. En los mismos sitios se estimó la producción de frutos de 60 árboles. Debido a la reducida extensión de los huertos, se realizaron ocho muestreos fl orísticos independientes. La riqueza fl orística en conjunto fue de 79 especies pertenecientes a 35 familias distribuidas de la siguiente forma: 52 en la selva, 27 en el cachichinal y 28 en el cafetal. En los huertos se registró la presencia de 11 especies dominantes. La fi sionomía en las selvas no se ve afectada por la recolección del cachichín. Los cachichinales conservan los atributos fi sionómicos similares a las selvas con mayor abundancia de especies útiles nativas; en el cafetal, hay presencia de especies exóticas y pocos individuos de cachichín. La producción promedio anual fue de 680 frutos/árbol (± 167.4 D.E.), sin encontrar diferencias entre los distintos tipos de manejo (P = 0.75). El cachichín se recolecta ampliamente en la región para autoconsumo y para su venta, comercializándose en la Sierra y en ciudades como Misantla y Xalapa.

Abstract:México is a cultural and biological megadiverse country with an increased anthropogenic pressure on its tropical landscapes. The study area was the ejido "Los Ídolos", Misantla, Central Veracruz, Mexico. The main objective of this research was to identify how the woody plant diversity of agroforestry systems contributed to the cultural, economic, and subsistence security of local farmers. Five different agroforestry systems were identified: forest gardens (FG), home gardens (HG), plantation crop combination with perennial cultivates (PC), plantation crop combinations with annual cultivates (AC), and trees on pastures (TP). FG systems had the highest floristic diversity, followed by HG and TP. Interviews with farmers showed that FG, HG, and PC systems were important for maintaining cultural identity and secure subsistence needs, while PC and TP systems were important for improving the economic situation of farmers. The FG systems contained only native species, while the proportion of exotic plants differed among the other systems. Useful exotic plants were found in the HG system. This study demonstrated that agroforestry systems such as FG were not used to their full potential, despite their high diversity of useful plants. It is recommended that farmers-assisted by institutions and representatives of local product chains-conduct feasibility studies on the marketing and promotion of products derived from specific agroforestry systems.

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The genus Oecopetalum Greenm. & C.H. Thomps. (Metteniusaceae) is distributed in the southeastern portion of Mexico to Central America (Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica). Three species have been described and two have been reported as edible. We studied herbarium specimens of the genus Oecopetalum and performed a phylogenetic analysis based on the chloroplast genes matK and ndhF to answers to main questions: How many species are in the genus Oecopetalum? Is the genus Oecopetalum monophyletic? What are the generic relationships with other members of the family? Oecopetalum is a monophyletic genus with only two species. Pittosporosis is the sister group of Oecopetalum. The Trans-Atlantic relationship of Oecopetalum and Pittosporosis is a recurrent geographic pattern in the family Mettenuisaceae as well as in the family Icacinaceae. Our results, in concordance with fossil evidence and relationships of other groups, support the Boreotropical model of high-latitude terrestrial migrations of tropical taxa during the globally warm Paleocene–Eocene.