A taxonomic revision of Curarea Barneby & Krukoff (Menispermaceae)

Abstract

A monograph of Curarea, a neotropical genus in the plant family Menispermaceae, is presented. Curarea is distinguished from related genera by the combination of staminate flowers with sepals in two whorls and pistillate flowers with three petals, three carpels and usually elongated carpophores bearing three sessile drupelets. Nine species are recognised, amongst them two new to science, C. gentryana from Ecuador and C. barnebyana, from Ecuador and Peru. Additionally, two new combinations, C. iquitana and C. tomentocarpa, are proposed for distinct taxa recovered in a multivariate analysis of quantitative characters of the broadly distributed and morphologically variable C. toxicofera. The anatomy and morphology of species in the genus is documented, identification key, species descriptions, distribution maps and a preliminary conservation assessment for all accepted species are also provided. Of the nine species recognised here, C. barnebyana is assigned a preliminary status of Vulnerable, C. crassa (known only from the coastal Atlantic Forest in Brazil) and C. gentryana (endemic to western Ecuador) are both assigned a preliminary status of Endangered.