XVI International Botanical Congess

This monograph of Curarea is a contribution to the still fragmentary knowledge of Neotropical Menispermaceae. It provides a comprehensive and detailed survey of leaf and wood anatomy, as well as general vegetative and reproductive morphology and pollen morphology.The genus is restricted to the Neotropics, and is found in lowland moist and wet forest from Costa Rica to southeastern Brazil. The plants are large to medium sized lianas, and usually narrowly distributed. Several of the species are used as a source of curare and in traditional local medicine. Curarea is distinguished from the other members of the tribe by the combination of a polythetic set of characters. Pending further phylogenetic studies of the tribe (family), Curarea is accepted as monophyletic in this study. Seven species are recognized, of which two are newly described, and its affinities are assessed through a cladistic analysis based on macro-morphological and anatomical characters. The analysis yielded 3 most parsimonious trees, which supported two sister clades. However, the strict consensus cladogram supports the monophyly of only one clade, while the other is unresolved.